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BJP Ministers Back RSS Push to Revisit 'Secular' and 'Socialist' in Constitution Preamble as Amendment Stalls

Revived on the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, the debate collides with legal barriers set by the Supreme Court’s basic structure doctrine, falling short of the two-thirds parliamentary support required for an amendment.

Shankaracharya Avimukteshwarananda adresses a press conference, in Varanasi.
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Overview

  • RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale renewed demands to review the words “secular” and “socialist,” arguing they were illegitimately inserted during the 1976 Emergency.
  • Senior BJP figures including Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Jitendra Singh publicly endorsed revisiting the Preamble’s two terms, reflecting growing intra-party momentum.
  • The Supreme Court’s 2024 rulings under the basic structure doctrine safeguard the additions as core constitutional values of liberty, equality and justice.
  • With 240 of 543 Lok Sabha seats and the need for ratification by half of India’s 28 states, the BJP falls short of the two-thirds majority required to amend the Preamble.
  • Opposition parties led by Congress have mobilized to defend the current Preamble text as essential to India’s commitment to religious neutrality and social welfare.