BJP wants to establish Hindu Rashtra: Opposition

NEW DELHI: Opposition leaders today hit out at the government after Home Minister Rajnath Singh said 'secularism' was a most misused word and alleged that BJP wanted to establish a "Hindu Rashtra".

"Rajnath Singh has made it clear that secularism and socialism, which were added (to the Preamble) as an amendment, should be removed. And then they (BJP) have to prepare ground to establish RSS' Hindu Rashtra in place of the constitutional system. This is their main aim," Sitaram Yechury of CPI(M) told reporters.

Singh in his speech at Lok Sabha had also objected to the use of Hindi word 'dharma nirpekshta', saying the literal translation of 'secularism' should be 'panth nirpekshta' and it should be regularly used as it is the official Hindi translation of 'secularism'.

Echoing Yechury's views, K C Tyagi of JD(U) said BJP wanted to change the Constitution as its ideologues were never part of the freedom struggle.

The phrase 'dharma nirpekshta' was a product of the movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, he said.

Shashi Tharoor of Congress said Singh was "splitting hair" on the application of secularism and it was mere wordplay and no substance.

"In our interpretation (of secularism), as you know in India it has always been the case, the state has never recognised any one religion having any special place in our society. And therefore to question the application of the word secularism by splitting hair on definition of secularism is mere wordplay not substance," he said.