Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary MA Baby on Saturday issued a scathing rebuke to RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale over his recent remarks advocating for the removal of the words “secularism” and “socialism” from the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.
Speaking to media, Baby said that the CPI(M) Polit Bureau had already formally condemned the RSS’s position, calling it an ideological threat to India’s constitutional foundations.
“Socialism and secularism are not mere additions—they are core values embedded across the Constitution,” Baby asserted.
He acknowledged that while the 42nd Constitutional Amendment, passed during the Emergency period in 1976, explicitly inserted these words, their spirit and essence were always present since the Constitution’s inception.
Baby elaborated that the Directive Principles of State Policy, a foundational part of the Constitution, reflect the clear intent to build a secular, egalitarian society—values that he believes are under direct attack from the RSS.
“The Supreme Court has already clarified that secularism and socialism are part of the basic structure of the Constitution. They cannot be amended or removed,” he added, referring to the Kesavananda Bharati judgment, which enshrines the doctrine of basic structure.
In a pointed critique of the RSS’s ideological lineage, Baby recalled how the RSS mouthpiece Organiser had rejected the Constitution in 1950, deriding it as being influenced by Western thought and suggesting it should have been based on Manusmriti.
“Now the cat is out of the bag. What the RSS really wants is to dismantle the Constitution that upholds equality, fraternity, and secularism, and replace it with Manuvaad,” said Baby.
“But Indian society will not accept such regression,” he warned.
He concluded with a firm promise that the Left parties would actively mobilise public opinion, defend the Constitution, and resist what he described as the RSS’s regressive agenda.
Earlier, RSS leader Hosabale, speaking at a 50th Emergency anniversary event at Delhi’s Dr Ambedkar International Centre, claimed that “socialist” and “secular” were forcibly added to the Constitution during the Emergency and should be reconsidered. He called the Emergency “a dark chapter” that attempted to crush civil liberties, suppress the press, and distort the Constitution.
The remarks have reignited a national debate over the foundational principles of the Constitution and the direction of Indian democracy.