Should India rethink ‘secular, socialism'? Why RSS prompt won't get BJP moving

India Today

3 days ago

It began not in Parliament nor in the heat of an election rally but at a commemorative event in Nagpur. On June 25, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) celebrated 50 years since the proclamation of the Emergency by the Indira Gandhi government in 1975.The audience comprised swayamsevaks, writers, retired bureaucrats and cultural thinkers. RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale took the stage and delivered a sharp reminder of what he called 'the distortions inflicted upon India's constitutional soul' during those 21 months of suspended democracy.advertisementThen came Hosabale's strike: 'The words 'socialist' and 'secular' were never part of the Constitution adopted by Dr B.R. Ambedkar and the Constituent Assembly. They were inserted during the Emergency—when civil liberties were crushed. Shouldn't we now debate whether these terms still reflect the true ethos of the nation?'Some political analysts believe socialism was inserted to back Indira's efforts to cement her approval among the masses on the basis of a socialist and pro-poor image, with slogans such as 'garibi hatao' (eradicate poverty). Her government at the time of the Emergency apparently inserted the word in the Preamble of the Constitution to underline that socialism was a goal and philosophy of the Indian state.
The Sangh has since nurtured the grouse that Indira's socialism was closer to what was practised in the former Soviet Union or China of the time, and had envisaged the nationalisation of all of India's means of production. This is completely in opposition to the Sangh's ideas and economic outlook.Hosabale didn't make an offhand remark. In the Sangh Parivar, few public interventions are accidental. The occasion—an Emergency remembrance event—was steeped in ideological symbolism. The venue (Nagpur) is the intellectual nerve-centre of the RSS. And the political context was no less significant: the BJP in power for a third consecutive term under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, albeit with fewer seats and greater coalition dependence.The 2024 Lok Sabha poll campaign had seen an uncharacteristic restraint from the RSS. But now, a year into the government being in place, the Sangh decided to gain control of the narrative along with setting a trajectory for the government as well as the organisation. Its chosen target? The very words Indira had inserted into the Preamble via the 42nd Constitutional Amendment in 1976.Reactions followed—measured, but pointed. Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at a university convocation in Bhubaneswar a few days later. 'What Hosabale-ji said is historically correct. 'Socialist' and 'secular' were introduced during the Emergency, without full democratic debate. It's worth revisiting in today's context.'In Bhopal, Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan argued: 'India has always been secular in spirit—these labels were unnecessary. Our civilisational culture is far more inclusive than these terms can capture.'advertisementBut the government offered no response. No constitutional amendment was proposed. No debate will be initiated in Parliament. The BJP's strategic instinct was restraint. The RSS had floated the idea. The BJP made no move to act on it.This isn't new. The present-day BJP has moved beyond several of the socialist leaders to expand into different geographies and demographies. This helped rid the party some of its untouchability while making it skillful in alliances with socialist parties. The collapse of the Janata Dal meant several of its constituents joining the BJP over the years, aiding the party's expansion in Karnataka, Gujarat, Haryana and Bihar, and a bounce-back in Uttar Pradesh.The BJP's relationship with the word 'socialism' has always been fraught. When the party was formed in April 1980 in Delhi, it was born from the wreckage of the Janata experiment. Its leaders—Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani and Nanaji Deshmukh—chose to name it the Bharatiya Janata Party, not the revived Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Seeking to appeal to a broader middle-class constituency and mindful of India's post-Emergency mood, they adopted 'Gandhian Socialism' as the party's guiding philosophy. Jayaprakash Narayan's portrait was placed beside those of Jana Sangh founders Deendayal Upadhyaya and Syama Prasad Mookerjee.But the term never sat easy. Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia and many RSS swayamsevaks were openly critical. For them, even Gandhian Socialism smacked of ideological compromise. In the RSS's intellectual tradition, 'socialism' was seen as a Western import, inimical to India's civilisational values of dharma, decentralization and family-centric welfare.advertisementThe BJP's 1984 electoral disaster—just two Lok Sabha seats—prompted a rethink. Gandhian Socialism was dropped from party literature. The BJP began to articulate its vision through the lens of 'Integral Humanism' and 'Anatodayaya', the philosophical framework propounded by Upadhyaya in the 1960s.Another Sangh pracharak, Dattopant Thengadi, deepened this narrative. In his book Third Way, he laid out a sweeping rejection of both capitalism and socialism, arguing for a uniquely Indian path grounded in spiritual economics and self-reliant communities. This language suited the Sangh: it was civilisational, not class-based; moral, not ideological.Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rise to power enabled the BJP to recast this discourse in a modern, managerial idiom. The phrase 'Garib Kalyan' replaced the older frameworks of socialism. Massive welfare schemes, such as Ujjwala, Ayushman Bharat and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, were implemented using digital governance tools. Benefits were targeted via the 'JAM' trinity: Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhaar authentication and Mobile connectivity. Redistribution took place, but it was framed not as class war but empowerment. Modi's model promised dignity through delivery.advertisementThe genius of this political project was in divorcing the mechanics of redistribution from the vocabulary of socialism. 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas' became a rallying cry that carried moral force without ideological baggage. It reached Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs and the aspirational middle classes simultaneously, without needing to cite Jawaharlal Nehru or Karl Marx.In the BJP's revision, socialism doesn't talk of 'class struggle', as done by the Marxists. That stands the party out in the present-day debate on the caste census. Caste-focused parties, such as the Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party, and now even the Congress, talk of 'jiski jitni aabadi utna haq' (quota rights as per population) while demanding reservation and a caste census. On the other hand, the BJP is propounding taking everyone along—in effect, rendering socialism obsolete in both policy and politics.This is why the RSS is now asking the obvious question: if the BJP has long abandoned socialism in practice, why preserve its ghost in the Preamble? Why let a word inserted during a constitutional 'dark age' remain enshrined in the foundational text of the Indian republic? From the Sangh's point of view, this isn't just a semantic matter. It's about reclaiming the Constitution from what it sees as ideological distortions imposed during a time of political authoritarianism.advertisementBut for the BJP, the calculus is different. Deleting 'socialist' or 'secular' from the Preamble would require a constitutional amendment—one that could provoke fierce opposition and judicial scrutiny. The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the 'basic structure' doctrine and often relied on the Preamble's socialist character to buttress rulings on affirmative action, labour rights and environmental protection. Any attempt to alter that language could ignite a legal firestorm.There's also the political cost. For many voters—especially the rural poor, SC/ST communities and OBCs—the idea of socialism is not about Marxist theory but government support: subsidies, pensions, quotas, welfare. These voters may trust Modi more than the Congress but still expect the State to deliver economic justice. Striking out 'socialist' from the Constitution could alarm these segments just as the BJP tries to deepen its social base beyond the urban middle class and upper castes.Hence the BJP's strategic silence. Let the RSS test the waters. Let sympathetic ministers issue cryptic nods. But don't commit. Don't legislate. Don't provoke yet.Still, the conversation has begun. Hosabale's words may not become policy in this Parliament or even the next. But they represent an ideological challenge to the Nehruvian consensus, still embedded in the constitutional framework. And in the world of the Sangh Parivar, such challenges rarely fade away. They wait and return. Sometimes, they even rewrite the script of the Republic.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- EndsTune InMust Watch