The words of RSS sarkaryavah or general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale have often been the bellwether to profound and unexpected change. His statement against the decriminalisation of homosexuality under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, for instance, paved the way for the Indian Right bringing down its wall of resistance towards the reform.

So, when “Datta-ji" calls for a debate on the words “secular" and “socialist", which were inserted into the Preamble of the Constitution not by Parliament but through the backdoor during Emergency, his words carry both weight and edge.

“Later, these words were not removed. Should they remain or not, a debate must happen. These two words were not in Dr Ambedkar’s Constitution. During the Emergency, the country had no functioning Parliament, no rights, no judiciary and yet these two words were added," Hosabale said.

Has the Narendra Modi dispensation made up its mind to remove “secular" and “socialist" from India’s Constitution?

It seems so.

Late last year, Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi too had brought it up.

Secularism was a European concept that evolved after a conflict between the Church and the King, he said. He argued Bharat is a dharma-centric nation, and therefore, “secularism" was not part of the Constitution but added during the Emergency by “one insecure........

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