Need to discuss if socialist, secular should remain in Preamble: Dattatreya Hosabale

Coming to the 42nd Constitutional Amendment in 1976 through which the words “socialist” and “secular” were included in the Preamble, Hosabale said, “The words socialist and secular were added to the Preamble. No attempt was made to remove them later. So, there should be a discussion on whether they should remain. I say this in a building (Ambedkar International Centre) named after Babasaheb Ambedkar, whose Constitution did not have these words in the Preamble.”

During the Lok Sabha elections, several INDIA bloc leaders, especially Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had waved a copy of the Constitution in various rallies, alleging that PM Narendra Modi-led government was “trying to change” it.

At the event, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari was the chief guest with journalist Ram Bahadur Rai and former BJP leader K N Govindacharya also on the panel since they had actively participated in the movement spearheaded by Jayaprakash Narayan leading up to the imposition of the Emergency in 1975.

It was necessary, Hosabale said, that the dates June 25 and June 26 do not remain “old boys’ clubs of discussions” among those who were thrown in jails during the 21 months of the Emergency but “occasions to spread information among the youth about that period, so that the Emergency mindset never returns in the country”. He called upon the Sangh’s student affiliate Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to hold study circles in universities to spread awareness about the Emergency.

Hosabale said while thousands of people were put in jail and tortured during that period, freedom of the judiciary and media was also curtailed.

He recalled having seen Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani being arrested on the morning of June 26, 1975 just outside an MLA guest house in Bengaluru, where they were put up for a Parliamentary Committee meeting.

“Advani ji said he wants to call the PTI and UNI to give a statement, and Atal ji asked him who would be willing to publish it?” Hosabale recalled, but added that the people of India proved their maturity as a democracy in those testing times.

Gadkari also recalled that when he went to secure parole for his maternal uncle so that he could perform the last rites of his maternal grandfather, he had to wait outside the police station the whole night. He stressed that the story of the Emergency needs to be retold to the youth so that it is not forgotten.