Tarksheel Society condemns communal conspiracy to remove ‘Secularism’ and ‘Socialism’ from the Constitution

 Barnala   (Samajweekly)   The Tarksheel Society of Punjab has strongly opposed the recent demand by RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale to remove the terms “secularism” and “socialism” from the Preamble of the Indian Constitution. Terming it an anti-national conspiracy under the BJP-Sangh’s Hindutva agenda, the Society has called on all democratic and people-oriented forces to firmly resist this communal politics based on the Manusmriti.

              In a press release issued from its headquarters, Tarksheel Bhawan, Barnala, state leaders of the Society—Master Rajinder Bhadaur, Hem Raj Steno, Sukhwinder Bagpur, Ram Swaran Lakhewali, Surjit Tibba and Sumeet Amritsar—stated that as per the Indian Constitution, India is a secular nation, where people of various religions, castes, and communities are entitled to equality, freedom, justice, development, security, dignity, and democratic rights under a socialist system. The State is not allowed to favour any particular religion. However, under the Hindutva agenda, the Modi government is not only violating the Constitution by spending crores annually on the development of Hindu religious places but is also trying to declare India a Hindu Rashtra by removing the words “secular” and “socialist” from the Constitution.

            The Rationalist leaders also strongly condemned Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar for indirectly supporting the RSS’s communal demand under the guise of opposing the 1975 Emergency. They stated that a person occupying a high constitutional office supporting conspiracies to dismantle or alter the Constitution amounts to a direct assault on the fundamental democratic rights of ordinary citizens, particularly Dalits, Adivasis, women and minorities. They emphasized that instead of promoting a corporate-backed fake development model, the central government must adopt people-centric policies to strengthen democracy, secularism, and socialism based on scientific temper.

               They further alleged that the same RSS, which collaborated with British imperialism during the Indian freedom struggle and whose Hindutva ideologues like Savarkar sought clemency from British rulers in writing to escape punishment, now wants to dismantle equality, plurality, and social justice from the Constitution. They aim to establish a Hindu Rashtra based on the Manusmriti and anti-people ideology, which the progressive, secular, and democratic forces of the country will never allow to succeed—no matter the cost.