Secular most misused word in politics: Rajnath

The BJP government has chose to observe November 26 as Constitution Day to spread awareness about the constitution and its architect B R Ambedkar.

However, Modi did not specifically refer to any recent incidents arising out of intolerance or nor did he touch on the debate that is raging in the country over it. “States also have played a role…There may be complaints that some government has done less but nobody can that previous governments have done nothing”, the Prime Minister said.

He said India’s inner strength and the idea of India was reflected in the age-old slogans like: “Vasudev Kutumbukam, Satyamev Jayate and Sarvapanth Sambhav….”

Eminent poet Ashok Vajpeyi too lambasted the ruling party, saying it only has “dishonoured” the word most and said it to be replaced with “sarv dharma sambhav” (broadly meaning equality of all religions). “Today if someone comes in front of the cameras and gives an irresponsible comment, we call it intolerance”, Mr Jaitley said.

Lauding Dr. B R Ambedkar for drafting the Indian Constitution, he said that one could not praise enough the creators of the Constitution. Constitution of India lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles, establishes the structure, procedures, powers and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles and the duties of citizens.

Rajnath Singh on Thursday said in parliament that “secular” was a most misused word and was only included in the constitution through the 42nd amendment. “We need to be reminded of our history”, he said.

Singh objected to the use of Hindi word “dharma nirpekshta”, saying the literal translation of the secularism should be “panth nirpekshta” (sect-neutral) and it should be regularly used as it is the official Hindi translation of secularism.

The government’s decision to mark 26th November as Constitution Day was not a move to overshadow the importance of January 26, he said.

“The government has only one religion, India first, and only one holy book, that is the Constitution”.

Parliament can amend the Constitution, which has already been done over 100 times, but it is altogether a different thing to review it, Leader of Congress Mallikarjun Kharge said while participating in a debate on the “Commitment to the Constitution“.

Hopes of a thaw on the GST Bill emerged last night with the prime minister reaching out to the Congress leadership, which is to discuss the government’s response to its three objections vis-a-vis the measure.