Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], July 4 : Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday came down heavily on the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) over its pitch to reconsider the words "secular and socialist" from the Preamble of the Indian Constitution while saying that it was "all talk".
He dared and challenged RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale and top leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the centre to remove the words "secular and socialist" from the Preamble.
"Days before, I heard that some RSS person said that we should remove Secular and Socialist words from the Constitution. I challenge them - be it him, their BJP, PM Modi, or Amit Shah - no one can remove those words. This is my challenge to them. Can you dare to remove it? This is all talk," Kharge said while addressing the gathering at the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) meeting.
The veteran leader went on to recite Article 2 (Objective) in the BJP's Constitution and rules that talk about the party's "allegiance to the Indian Constitution and the principles of socialism, secularism and democracy".
He questioned the inclusion of the words "socialism and secularism" in the BJP's Constitution. "If you hate the words secularism and socialism so much, why are they mentioned in your Constitution? These people are like this only...na idhar mard hai na udhar aurat hai," Kharge said.
Earlier on June 27, Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi attacked the RSS, saying that it doesn't want the Constitution but the Manusmriti. Intensifying his attack, Gandhi said that RSS intended to violate the rights of the marginalised and the poor while enslaving them.
"The mask of RSS has come off again," he added.
"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," the Congress leader posed on X.
This development comes after Hosabale questioned the legitimacy of including the terms "socialist" and "secular" in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution on Thursday while addressing a program on the 50th anniversary of the Emergency held at Dr Ambedkar International Centre, jointly organised by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (under the Ministry of Culture), Ambedkar International Centre.
He remarked that during the Emergency, terms like "socialism" and "secular" were forcibly inserted into the Constitution -- a move that needs to be reconsidered today. He emphasised that the Emergency wasn't just a misuse of power but an attempt to crush civil liberties. Millions were imprisoned, and freedom of the press was suppressed.