Hindutva’s Long War Against Two Words in the Constitution: ‘Secular’ and ‘Socialist’
RSS leader Dattatray Hosabale’s remarks questioning the legitimacy of “secular” and “socialist” values echo decades of Hindutva hostility to the Constitution. From Organiser editorials dismissing it as “un-Bhartiya” to Savarkar’s praise for Manu Smriti, the goal of a Hindu Rashtra has always clashed with constitutional ideals. Even as BJP leaders publicly bow before Ambedkar’s legacy, their long-term vision involves undermining the democratic, inclusive foundation he laid
The RSS General Secretary, Dattatray Hosabale, second in the RSS leadership hierarchy, stated on the eve of the imposition of the Emergency in 1975 that it was during the Emergency that the words “Secularism” and “Socialism” were inserted in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution. And that these words were not there in the original preamble of the Constitution drafted by Dr Ambedkar, so they should be removed.
This is not the first time such a demand has been raised from Hindutva quarters. When the BJP government came to power in 2014, on the following Republic Day, January 2015, the Government issued an advertisement with the picture of the preamble, in which these words were missing, on the same pretext that these were not in the one released in November 1949. A lot of debate took place, and a case was filed in the Courts demanding the deletion of these words from the present Constitution.
Multiple petitions were filed on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the constitution on November 25, 2024. The Supreme Court rejected these and dismissed all the petitions which challenged the inclusion of the words “socialist” and “secular” in the preamble. The justices held that the addition of these terms could not be objected to just on the ground that the original preamble did not contain them at the time when the Constitution was adopted.
Not just these two values, the Hindu nationalists are against the Constitution as a whole. During Constituent Assembly debates, many leaders had shown apprehension that secularism would be undermined, and there is a need to guard this to the utmost. As a representative sample, what Sardar Patel stated needs to be recalled: “I made it clear that this Constitution of India, of free India, of a secular State will not hereafter be disfigured by any provision on a communal basis.”
As per the Constitution, Hosabale’s argument is on the weak wicket as the very provisions of the Constitution spell these words. As per the fundamental rights enshrined in Article 25, which deals with the freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion. In this very article, the word “secular” is mentioned under clause (2)(a).
BJP, due to electoral compulsions, speaks in many tongues. It began with Gandhian Socialism, which was dumped in 1985 for the favour of caste hierarchy-based ‘integral humanism’. In the BJP’s Constitution of 2012, it stated its objective as aiming for a party which “…shall bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and to the principles of socialism, secularism and democracy and would uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.”
The core agenda of RSS-BJP is to strive for a Hindu Nation where Manu Smriti will be the guiding principle. Right after the Indian Constitution was implemented on January 26, 1950, RSS mouthpiece Organiser came out with an editorial piece heavily criticising the Constitution. It stated on 30th November 1949, “The worst [thing] about the new Constitution of Bharat is that there is nothing Bhartiya about it… [T]here is no trace of ancient Bhartiya constitutional laws, institutions, nomenclature and phraseology in it”. Meaning that Manu Smriti has been ignored by the makers of the Indian Constitution!
At the same time, the ideologue of Hindu Nationalism, VD Savarkar, stated that “Manu Smriti is that scripture which is most worshipable after Vedas for our Hindu Nation and which from ancient times has become the basis of our culture, customs, thought and practice. This book, for centuries, has codified the spiritual and divine march of our nation. Even today, the rules which are followed by crores of Hindus in their lives and practice are based on Manu Smriti. Today, Manu Smriti is a part of Hindu Law. That is fundamental.
[VD Savarkar, ‘Women in Manu Smriti’ in Savarkar Samgra (collection of Savarkar’s writings in Hindi), Prabhat, Delhi, vol. 4, p. 415.]
In the decade of the 1990s, three major statements and actions again showed its deeper and real affinity and goal of the Hindu Nation. In 1993, Rajju Bhaiyya, the then Sarsanghchalak of RSS, stated that “ Official documents refer to the composite culture, but ours is certainly not a composite culture… This country has a unique cultural oneness. No country, if it has to survive, can have compartments. All this shows is that changes are needed in the Constitution. A Constitution more suited to the ethos and genius of this country should be adopted in the future.”
In 1998, the BJP came to power as part of the NDA. One of the major things it did was to appoint the Venkatachaliah Commission to review the constitution, saying that it has become old and needs revision. The Commission did submit its report, but there was huge opposition to it, and so implementation of its recommendations was put on hold.
Undeterred by all this, in the year 2000, when K Sudarshan became the Sarsanghchalak of RSS, he stated that the Indian Constitution is based on western values, it should be scrapped and replaced by one based on the Hindu Holy books (i.e. Manu Smriti).
Many BJP leaders kept saying off and on this line. Anant Kumar Hegde of Karnataka said that they are in power precisely for changing the Constitution. In light of the 400 paar (beyond 400 parliament seats) slogan of the BJP, many of their leaders reiterated that they need this many seats so that they can achieve their goal of changing the same.
BJP’s tactical flexibility was on display when Mr Modi said that even if Babasaheb Ambedkar comes, he can’t change the Constitution. In the backdrop of the 2024 elections, Rahul Gandhi made a major issue around the Constitution by carrying a copy of the Constitution in his hand. There was no overt opposition from the RSS-BJP camp, and Modi even bowed to a copy of the Constitution.
The RSS-BJP strategy is multipronged, to try to tamper with the Constitution by various steps and at the same time to adopt the policies to bypass the ethos of the Constitution when in power. That’s what we are witnessing from the last decade or so. Hosabale is a calculated move to test the waters, to march further in their agenda of doing away with the democratic, secular values of equality.
