Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], June 27 : Senior Congress leader and MP KC Venugopal lashed out at the RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale's statement and claimed that the leader's remarks were an insult to the Constitution, a rejection of its values, and a direct attack on the Supreme Court.
This came after RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale questioned the legitimacy of including the terms "socialist" and "secular" in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution on Thursday.
In a post on X, Venugopal said, "The RSS' single-minded focus to destroy the Constitution is never hidden for too long. 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."
"A senior RSS member surely knows that the Supreme Court declared socialism and secularism to be part of the basic structure of the Constitution. Yet, to take this stand is a clear insult to the Constitution, a rejection of its values, and a direct attack on the Supreme Court of India as well," he posted on X.
Speaking to mediapersons over Hosabale's statement, KC Venugopal said, "Undeclared censorship has been there in this country now. Over the past 11 years, India has experienced a kind of undeclared emergency. Where are our constitutional bodies? What are the activities of the Election Commission itself? Every constitutional body that has been attacked by the BJP and PM Modi."
"The constitutional values have been under attack. That is why we are undertaking the 'Samvidhan Bachao Yatra,' which has covered around 689 places at the district level. We are now moving to the assembly constituency level. That is why the BJP is on the back foot. To cover up their failures, they are trying to do all these dramas," he added.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh also slammed RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale.
He said that the RSS has never accepted the Constitution, attacking its framers from the beginning and criticised it for not being "inspired by Manusmriti."
Ramesh also highlighted a 2024 Supreme Court judgement regarding challenging the 1976 Constitutional Amendment, which inserted the words. The SC, however, said that the arguments in the case had "obvious" flaws and weaknesses.
"The Chief Justice of India himself delivered a judgment on November 25, 2024, on the issue now being raised by a leading RSS functionary. Would it be asking too much to request him to take the trouble to read it?" the Congress leader said.
Congress MP Pramod Tiwari on Friday also launched a sharp attack on RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, alleging that his recent remarks reflected a "hidden agenda" to change the Constitution of India. Tiwari claimed the people had rejected this plan during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Dattatreya Hosabale had earlier stated that the Emergency imposed in the country on June 25, 1975, was the "biggest blow to Indian democracy."
Hosabale was 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 "Secularism" 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.
He said that those who imposed the Emergency and trampled the Constitution and democracy have never apologised. If they cannot apologise personally, they should do so on behalf of their ancestors.