BJP Minister Comes to Defence of Hosabale, Opposition Flays

"Any right-thinking citizen will endorse it because everybody knows that these words were not part of the original Constitution written by Dr BR Ambedkar"

- AGENCIES

Amid the row over RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale's strong pitch for a review of two words, 'secular' and 'socialist', inserted in the Preamble of the Constitution during the Emergency days, an article published in an RSS-linked magazine Organiser said it is not about dismantling the Constitution but about restoring its "original spirit", free from the "distortions" of the Congress' Emergency-era policies.

Meanwhile, the Congress and other opposition parties on Friday flayed Hosabale's call for a national debate on whether the terms 'secular' and 'socialist' should remain in the Preamble.

Union minister Jitendra Singh and senior BJP leader sought to defend the call by the second senior most functionary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), saying any right-thinking citizen will endorse it because everybody knows that these words were not part of the original Constitution written by Dr BR Ambedkar.