Delete secular from Constitution: Sena

Mumbai: A Shiv Sena lawmaker, Sanjay Raut, has scripted new controversy by demanding the "permanent deletion" of the words 'secular' and 'socialist' from the Constitution.

Raut, a Rajya Sabha MP and a prominent Sena leader, has argued that "there is no place for secularism in India", which he says is a "Hindu Rashtra."

"From the time they (the words) were included in the Constitution, it is being said that this country can never be secular. Balasaheb Thackeray and before him Veer Savarkar had been saying that India was divided on the lines of religion. Pakistan was created for Muslims, thus, what remains is a Hindu Rashtra," Raut said.

The Shiv Sena, an ally of the BJP-led Narendra Modi government at the Centre, has not commented on Raut's remarks yet. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP, who runs a state government in which the Sena is a partner, has refused comment.

On Tuesday, a political row erupted over a Republic Day advertisement issued by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry, which showed an image of the Preamble to the Constitution as it appeared before the 42nd Amendment, without the words 'secular' and 'socialist'.

“A democracy can’t succeed without people’s participation,” says the ad, a Republic Day message, quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The original Preamble said, "We the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign, democratic Republic..." The words "socialist, secular'' were introduced in 1976, when the Congress was in power.
"We welcome the exclusion of the (secular and socialist) words from the Republic Day advertisement. Though it might have been done inadvertently, it is like honouring the feelings of the people of India. If these words were deleted by mistake this time, they should be deleted from the Constitution permanently," the Sena MP said.

The Shiv Sena brands itself as a pro-Hindutva party with an agenda to set up what it calls a "Hindu Rashtra".

Prime Minister Modi has hailed the Constitution as the nation’s holy book, but the two missing words in the official ad have kicked up a controversy at a time when there are concerns about growing religious intolerance in the country.

Congress leader and former IB minister Manish Tewari attacked the Centre on the issue, saying the government advertisement deleted the two words and this was only a prelude to their substitution with “communal” and “corporate”.

The BJP government at the Centre denied allegations that it had made a serious mistake in its Republic Day ad.

"It is not a mistake. We are celebrating the 66th anniversary of the preamble made on that day. Some people are trying to rake up a controversy," said Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, the junior minister for information and broadcasting.

The ministry said the original preamble was also used in an ad issued by the previous Congress government last year, when Tewari was I&B minister, to mark the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, the father of the Constitution.

But the ad raised eyebrows at a time when the Modi government has been accused by the Opposition parties of not following secular principles.

BJP's rivals saw a message for the government in US President Barack Obama's strong pitch for religious tolerance on Tuesday before he wrapped up his three-day visit to India. "India will succeed as long as it's not splintered along religious lines," President Obama said.