India, known for ‘Shashtrarth’, is now a victim of a political culture where any scope for debate and discussion becomes the victim of polemics. It is apparent that after Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale’s proposal to have a discussion on two terms, including ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’, inserted in the preamble of the Constitution in 1976, sparked a controversy.
His suggestion was branded as RSS and the BJP’s attempt to change the Constitution. Opposition parties and their ideologues, who have been practicing a pseudo-secular idea, are not prepared to face open intellectual debate on issues like secularism and socialism, which vitally impact our society. They see all such efforts as an emerging counter-hegemonic force. Exactly this happened with Hosabale’s proposal.
Both the terms ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ were debated at great length in the Constituent Assembly on the preamble. Some of the members wanted the inclusion of both the terms, socialist and secular, in the preamble. KT Shah said that by including socialism as an idea in the preamble, India shows determination to fight inequality. But, none other than the father of the Constitution, BR Ambedkar, strongly opposed the amendment proposed by KT Shah. In the words of Ambedkar, “The constituent assembly cannot tie up the future generations with a particular idea. They are free to decide their pattern of governance.”