Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) leader and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule on Saturday dismissed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) appeal to review the Preamble to the Indian Constitution, stating that the document is the result of a great deal of and in-depth deliberation and will not be permitted to be changed.
Addressing a press meet in Nagpur, Sule refuted RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale's recent statement that the terms 'socialist' and 'secular' in the Preamble had been added during the Emergency and were not part of the original draft prepared under Baba Saheb Ambedkar.
"Anyone is entitled to say anything in a democracy. He said what he believed," Sule countered when questioned regarding Hosabale's statement. "But the Constitution came after a lot of deliberation and discussion. No one will be allowed to amend the Constitution in this nation."
Hosabale made the politically contentious comments while speaking at an event commemorating 50 years of the Emergency, where he pointed out that the amendments brought to the Preamble were illegitimate at a time when Parliament was not working, fundamental rights were suspended and the judiciary was undermined.
Reminding one of late BJP leader Arun Jaitley, Sule pointed out that he used to caution media against blowing such statements out of proportion, suggesting that media publicity kindles such controversies.
"Such debates remind me of what Arun Jaitley used to say — if the media stops reporting them, no one will even speak about them," she said.
Independently, Sule also commented on the current controversy in Maharashtra regarding the teaching of Hindi at primary schools. "Is Hindi compulsory in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh or Telangana? When Hindi is not compulsory in all those states, then why make it compulsory in Maharashtra?" she questioned.
The state government had recently come out with a revised order according to which Hindi would "generally" be used as a third language from Class 1 to Class 5 in Marathi and English medium schools.
The order also provides for students to use another Indian language of their choice if at least 20 students belonging to that grade request it. In such an instance, the additional language will be taught either by a newly hired teacher or online.
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