Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed on Saturday that ‘socialism’ and ‘secularism’ are “Western concepts”, and these words should be struck off the Constitution.
He said these words were included in the Preamble of the Constitution by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi when the country was under Emergency rule, and these have no place in the Indian civilisation.
“How can I be secular? I am a hardcore Hindu. A Muslim person is a hardcore Muslim person. How can he be secular?” Sarma said.
He was speaking after launching a book titled ‘The Emergency Diaries: Years That Forged a Leader’ in Assam, which is based on first-person anecdotes from associates who worked with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then a young RSS pracharak, and used other archival material.
The book chronicles the 1975-77 Emergency era and Prime Minister Modi’s role in the ‘resistance movement’.
Socialism, secularism not part of original Preamble: Himanta
Sarma said that the words ‘socialism’ and ‘secularism’ were not part of the original Preamble and were inserted through the 42nd amendment to the Constitution during the Emergency period under former PM Indira Gandhi. “It changed the way people perceived our Constitution and damaged our national life,” he claimed.
“We are a spiritual nation. If people are told that they can have good roads but cannot visit temples or ‘namghars’ (Vaishnavite places of worship), our people will choose going to temples. We are not like countries like China, which have an authoritarian rule,” he said.
He said that socialism is from countries like Russia and China and is a concept based on ‘conflict’, with Left supporters many times making its “positive comparison with communism”.
“These concepts were never for India. Our economic principle is of sharing the riches… This socialism made us lose our competitiveness and capabilities, and we were left behind in the global race,” Sarma said.
Himanta’s words enshrined in BJP’s constitution: Congress
Assam Congress hit back on Sunday, pointing out that the BJP’s own constitution contains the same words he is opposing. “A person who has taken an oath by the Constitution (of India) and is in such a high position, making such comments is unbefitting of his chair. I strongly condemn it,” Leader of Opposition in Assam Assembly, Debabrata Saikia, said.
Sarma had claimed on Saturday that ‘socialism’ and ‘secularism’ are “Western concepts”, and these words should be struck off the Constitution.
“The first page of BJP’s own constitution says it will follow the Constitution of the country and principles of socialism and secularism. After putting these words in their own constitution, I don’t know what could be the reason for opposing it,” the Congress leader asked.
He questioned that if the chief minister, who was an influential Congress leader before switching to the saffron brigade about a decade back, was “upset” with the BJP and is contemplating of shifting to another party.
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