Rajnath Singh creates furore with his comments on word ‘secular’ in Constitution

NEW DELHI: Home Minister Rajnath Singh gave a stormy start to the two-day Lok Sabha sitting on Ambedkar’s birth anniversary and on the Constitution when he said, "secularism is the most misused word in contemporary political discourse", before taking an indirect jibe at actor Aamir Khan by saying despite many humiliations at home, BR Ambedkar "never thought of leaving his country".

Singh’s loaded remarks have sharpened the political fault-lines in the House even though the top leadership of the government had struck a tactical conciliatory note ahead of the session to ensure a smooth run of Parliament.

Making his disapproval about the manner in which the Indira Gandhi government had amended the Preamble of the Constitution to insert ‘secularism’ and ‘socialism’, Singh said: "Our founding fathers believed that the Preamble is the soul of the Constitution and no changes should be made to it. The two words — secular and socialist — were inserted later. I am not saying I don’t agree with the words. What happened is past now."

Then he moved to his main plot: "Secularism essentially means panth-nirpeksh (non-sectarian), not dharm-nirpeksh (non-religious), which is why Dr Ambedkar did not insert it in the Preamble...If there is any word which is being misused in Indian politics, it is secular," Singh asserted, triggering loud protests from Opposition.

Congress floor leader Mallikarjun Kharge intervened to say, "Dr Ambedkar wanted to insert those words ('secularism' and "socialism") in the Preamble, but he was not allowed to do that by the leaders of his time thinking there was no need for that. But later the situation warranted insertion of the two words in the Preamble."