Vaiko condemns RSS general secretary’s call for removal ‘secular’, ‘socialist’ from Preamble

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko on Friday condemned Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale for suggesting to remove the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ that were inserted in the Preamble of the Constitution through the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976, during the Emergency.

Referring to the recent speech of Mr. Hosabale who had questioned the inclusion of these two terms, claiming that they were not part of the original Preamble and should be deleted, Mr. Vaiko said: “The RSS and other Hindutva forces have been consistently calling to rewrite the Constitution to impose their idea of a Hindu Rashtra, aimed at dismantling India’s pluralistic character and imposing a homogenous national identity based on one religion, one language, one culture, and one nation.”

Referring to a Supreme Court verdict that upheld the power of the Parliament to amend the Constitution under Article 368 includes amending the Preamble as well, Mr. Vaiko, in a statement, alleged that the BJP government’s actions over the last ten years have undermined the core values of the Constitution such as sovereignty, socialism, secularism, democracy, republic, equality, fraternity, dignity, and national unity.

He said “Democratic and progressive forces across the country should come together and oppose the Hindutva forces’ attempts to subvert the Constitution.”