Will fight tooth and nail if Constitution is altered: Kharge on 'Secular' row

Bengaluru, June 30 (IANS) Commenting on the controversy surrounding RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale’s statement on the removal of the words ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’ from the Indian Constitution, AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge stated on Monday that any attempt to tamper with the Constitution would be strongly opposed.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Kharge warned, “If they are going to touch any word in the Constitution, we will fight tooth and nail.”

“Dattatreya Hosabale is a man of Manusmriti. He doesn’t want poor people to progress. What has been practised for thousands of years, he wants to continue,” Kharge stated.

“Since they don’t want the poor to rise, he opposes Socialism, secularism, liberty, equality, and fraternity. He doesn't believe in these values. Therefore, I don’t want to say much about him — it's his party's line. The RSS has always been against the poor, the downtrodden, Scheduled Castes, and other marginalised communities,” he added.

“If they were truly concerned, they would have worked to eradicate untouchability. They claim to be champions of the Hindu religion. If that’s the case, they should remove untouchability,” Kharge remarked.

“They must involve all RSS workers in the effort to eliminate untouchability and promote unity in the country. Instead, they merely talk, make noise, and create confusion. This is very unfortunate, and we are firmly opposed to it,” he appealed.

The RSS leader stirred controversy last week when, speaking at an event in Delhi on last Thursday, he said, “During the Emergency, the words ‘Secular’ and ‘Socialist’ were added to the Constitution — they were not part of the original Preamble.”

He further stated, “Later, these words were never removed. Should they remain or not… a debate must happen on this. These two words were not in Babasaheb B.R. Ambedkar’s Constitution. During the Emergency, the country had no functioning Parliament, no rights, no judiciary, and yet these two words were added.”

--IANS

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