Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar has now joined the chorus demanding the removal of the words “secularism” and “socialism” from the Preamble of India’s Constitution. The irony, however, is that these very words exist in the BJP’s own constitution.
Article 2 of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) constitution states: “The party shall bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India and to the principles of socialism, secularism, and democracy, and uphold the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India.”
In fact, on paper, the BJP swears by “Gandhian socialism.” More importantly, even in 2015 and again in 2024, BJP leaders like Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, and others have publicly denied any plan to change the Preamble of the Constitution.
Yet the BJP has consistently tried to delegitimize the inclusion of “secularism” and “socialism” in the Preamble.
On Saturday, June 28, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar jumped into this ongoing debate. Speaking at a book launch on “Messages of Ambedkar,” the Vice President, who has long advocated for “restoring” the original Preamble adopted by the Constituent Assembly in 1949, justified demands to remove the words “secularism” and “socialism,” which were added by Parliament through the 42nd Amendment in 1976.
Dhankhar quoted extensively from the landmark Kesavananda Bharati case (1973), where a 13-judge bench of the Supreme Court underlined the significance of the Preamble as the “soul” of the Constitution. Yet, he carefully omitted the fact that the Supreme Court also upheld Parliament’s power to amend the Constitution—including the Preamble.
As recently as November 2024, then Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar reaffirmed this position, stating that the Constitution is a living document, and that it is Parliament’s responsibility to amend it in line with the people’s aspirations.
Yet, in his speech, Vice President Dhankhar claimed: “The Preamble cannot be changed… it is the seed of the Constitution… but for India, this Preamble was changed by the 42nd Amendment Act of 1976, adding words like socialist, secular, and integrity.”
He added: “The Preamble drafted by Dr. Ambedkar and approved by the Constituent Assembly should have been respected, not tampered with, altered, or destroyed… something so serious, which cannot be changed, was carelessly and ridiculously changed without justification.”
Further, he declared: “These words were added as ‘ulcers’. They will cause turmoil. Adding them during Emergency betrayed the mindset of the Constitution’s framers… it is an insult to the spirit of Sanatan. And if you think deeply, through this process, we are giving wings to existential threats.”
Senior journalist and political commentator Ashutosh posted on social media: “BJP is a strange party. Its leaders are so confused that they demand removing ‘secularism’ and ‘socialism’ from the Indian Constitution but keep these very words in their party constitution. BJP should first remove these words from its own constitution.”
During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when the BJP was targeted by the opposition over its alleged plans to change the Constitution, Union Minister Rajnath Singh said: “BJP will never change the Constitution… there is no question of altering the Preamble. It was the Congress that changed it, and now they are making baseless accusations against us.”
Whether these accusations are baseless or not, the BJP and RSS have revived this controversy—either to distract public attention or as part of a larger ideological campaign.
Amended copies of the Constitution were first distributed in 2015 on Constitution Day, November 26. They were distributed again during the inauguration of the new Parliament building. During the 2024 general election, several BJP leaders openly spoke about their commitment to constitutional change, and at times even mentioned the idea of a “new Constitution for India as a Hindu Rashtra.”
Every time, however, BJP leaders have later walked back these statements, assuring the public that there was no plan to change the Preamble or the Constitution itself. In 2015, then party president Amit Shah, now Union Home Minister, declared: “The BJP respects the Constitution as it stands today, with the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ in the Preamble.”
Calling the debate over distributing the “original” Constitution copies “meaningless,” he said then: “BJP believes the Preamble, as it is today, should remain unchanged. There is no need to alter it.”
Whether this is hypocrisy, opportunism, or something more sinister remains undecided. But within less than a week, one BJP leader has demanded changing the national flag’s color to saffron, and RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale has said that socialism and secularism do not reflect India’s character.
This serves to divert attention from what critics call an undeclared and permanent state of emergency—where institutions and the Constitution itself are being systematically undermined every day.
And now, the Vice President has gone as far as calling these words an “ulcer.” What is really going on?
Courtesy: National Herald
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