Oppn attacks RSS over call to remove terms 'Socialist', 'Secular' from Constitution's Preamble

New Delhi: As a senior RSS leader called for removing the terms “socialist” and “secular” from the Constitution’s Preamble, Opposition on Friday claimed the Sangh fountainhead has “never accepted” the Constitution and their renewed call is part of a “long-standing conspiracy to dismantle” BR Ambedkar's vision and impose “Manusmriti’s archaic framework”.

They called for “unwavering resistance” on the “relentless assault on India’s foundational values”, while insisting that the inclusion of these words in the Preamble is “not an arbitrary addition” but reflects the core values for which freedom fighters stood for.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said the RSS’ “mask has come off again” but every patriotic Indian will defend the Constitution until their last breath.

“The Constitution irks them because it speaks of equality, secularism and justice. RSS-BJP doesn’t want the Constitution; they want Manusmriti. They aim to strip the marginalised and the poor of their rights and enslave them again. Snatching a powerful weapon like the Constitution from them is their real agenda. RSS should stop dreaming – we will never let them succeed,” he said.

Congress said RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale’s open call was “not just a suggestion” but a “deliberate assault on the soul” of the Constitution. It said the BJP leaders “did not even hide their intent and they declared openly” during the Lok Sabha elections that they needed over 400 seats to “rewrite the Constitution”.

“But the people of India saw through their agenda and gave them a resounding answer. Now, they have returned to their old playbook. But let it be known: Congress will stand as an unbreakable wall against any attempt to undermine the Constitution. Jai Samvidhan,” it said on its official X handle.

“It is part of a long-standing conspiracy to dismantle…Ambedkar's vision for a just, inclusive and democratic India - something the RSS-BJP has always been plotting. Let us not forget: when the Constitution was adopted, the RSS rejected it. They didn’t just oppose it – they burnt it,” it said.

In a statement, CPI(M) Polit Bureau said it exposes the RSS’s “long-standing objective of subverting the Constitution and its intent to transform India into a Hindu Rashtra, in pursuit of its Hindutva project. It is the height of hypocrisy for the RSS, which played no role in the freedom movement, to now advocate for the removal of these foundational principles”.

Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal said, “beyond the BJP’s lip service to the Constitution, their hidden agenda has always been to distort and destroy our Constitution -- because it stands against the core fascist beliefs of the RSS-BJP.”

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said the RSS has “never accepted” the Constitution and it attacked Ambedkar, Jawaharlal Nehru and others involved in its framing from November 1949 onwards.

“In RSS' own words, the Constitution was not inspired by Manusmriti. The RSS and the BJP have repeatedly given the call for a new Constitution. This was Mr Modi's campaign cry during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The people of India decisively rejected this cry. Yet the demands for changing the basic structure of the Constitution continue to be made by the RSS ecosystem,” Ramesh said.

Recalling a judgement by the Supreme Court settling the issue on November 25, 2024, he asked, “Would it be asking too much to request him (Hosabole) to take the trouble to read it?”

Senior RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha said, “What is printed by Nagpur (RSS headquarters) won’t work. If you want to understand, you should read the debates in the Constituent Assembly. Perhaps he hasn’t read it…Socialism and secularism were integral parts of our Constitution."

CPI(M) Rajya Sabha floor leader John Brittas said the RSS’ “renewed push” to strip socialism and secularism from the Constitution “lays bare their long-standing disdain” for it.

“Recently, a prominent RSS leader in Kerala brazenly demanded abandoning the tricolour for their saffron flag, exposing their contempt for national symbols. The BJP’s 400-plus election rhetoric was a ploy to rewrite the Constitution and impose Manusmriti’s archaic framework. This relentless assault on India’s foundational values demands unwavering resistance,” he added.