‘Not Ambedkar’s Legacy’: Jitendra Singh On Revisiting Preamble Additions

In an indirect support to the RSS' call to review the words "socialist" and "secular" in the Preamble of the Constitution, Union minister Jitendra Singh on Friday said any right-thinking citizen will endorse it because everybody knows that these words were not part of the original Constitution written by Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar.

- Press Trust Of India

The RSS on Thursday called for reviewing the words ‘social-ist’ and ‘secular’ in the pream-ble of the Constitution, saying they were included during the Emergency and were never part of the Constitution drafted by B R Ambedkar. Addressing an event organised at New Delhi on 50 years of the Emergency, RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said, "The preamble of the Constitution Baba Saheb Ambedkar made never had these words. During the Emergency, when funda-mental rights were suspended, Parliament did not work, the judiciary became lame, then these words were added.”

Talking to reporters, Singh said, "I think any right-thinking citizen will endorse it because everybody knows that it was not part of the original Constitution written by Dr Ambedkar and the team."

Singh was replying to a question on whether the BJP endorses the removal of the words "secular" and "social-ist" from the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.

“Who doesn't want that? Even you may want it.

"It is not a question of the BJP versus the non-BJP. It is a question of preserving demo-cratic and constitutional val-ues," Singh said, adding that those who are raising the Constitution book are the big-gest violators of it.

Replying to another question on whether the BJP is going to bring a bill in Parliament re-garding this, he said, "I did not say that. I am not accredited to say that.”