The statement by RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale that the words “socialist” and “secular” should be removed from the Preamble of the Constitution is a matter that demands serious discussion.

Since this opinion has been expressed by the “high command” of the ruling BJP, I, on behalf of the 140 crore people of the country, urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to express his views on this matter before the nation.

Since everyone understood India to be a socialist and secular country, there was no need in the early days to specifically include these words in the original Preamble of the Constitution.

However, in later years, when the RSS and Jana Sangh began attacking the core principles of democracy—secularism and socialism—Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had to include these words through the 42nd Amendment, a fact that the entire country acknowledges today.

The RSS opposing the Constitution is not a new development. The Bharatiya Janata Party and its parent organization, the RSS, have been opposing the Constitution since the day it was framed, and history stands as a witness to this. Just four days after Baba Saheb Ambedkar presented the Constitution to the nation, the RSS mouthpiece, *Organiser* magazine, wrote an editorial opposing it. “*There is no trace of Indianness or the ancient Indian systems in Ambedkar’s Constitution, and this is the worst aspect of this Constitution*,” the *Organiser* editorial stated. M.S. Golwalkar had said, “*The Constitution of India is a patchwork of provisions picked from the constitutions of other countries; there is no Indianness in it*.

” V.D. Savarkar had stated, “*The Manusmriti is the true Hindu law, the revered text of Hindus. The principles of Manusmriti are not reflected in the Constitution*.” The RSS and its leaders have openly expressed this opinion about our Constitution, and the Bharatiya Janata Party has not rejected it to this day.

Instead, whenever it comes to power at the center, on one hand, RSS leaders, and on the other, lower-level BJP leaders, keep raising slogans for changing the Constitution, administering “*test doses*” to gauge the public’s pulse. The aware citizens of the country have understood this “*deceptive game*” of the BJP. I believe the BJP, which had some of its loudmouths proclaim during the Lok Sabha elections that they would change the Constitution if their party won 400 seats, has received a fitting response.

Had some of the secular-leaning parties among us not compromised due to their greed for power, the BJP would have been sitting in the opposition today. It is regrettable that even after this, the BJP continues its devious attempts. I

If the BJP does not wake up now and persists with its sinister efforts, it is certain that the democracy-loving people of the country will teach the BJP a fitting lesson:

Siddaramaiah
Chief Minister of Karnataka

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