Telangana BJP President calls AICC ‘All India Cheating Congress’, sparks debate

N Ramchander Rao emphasized that the terms 'secular' and 'socialist' were added during the Emergency, and criticized Congress.

Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao on Saturday accused the Congress of misleading the country with its claim that the BJP-led government at the Centre wants to change the Constitution. He added that AICC has now become the 'All India Cheating Congress'.

"Emergency was a black day in the democratic history of our country," said N Ramchander Rao. (PTI File)

"The words 'secular' and 'socialist' were not there in the Constitution. It was added after the 42nd Amendment. The Amendment was brought during the Emergency. Emergency was a black day in the democratic history of our country. So, the original Constitution did not have the words 'secular' and 'socialist, '" Rao told ANI.

"Who asked them to add these two words? However, after adding those words, the Janata Party came to power, Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to power, and now the BJP has come to power three times. Did we ever attempt to change these two words?" he added.

"It is only the Congress party which is trying to mislead the country by saying that the BJP will change the Constitution...Congress is frustrated because it is losing elections...AICC has now become the 'All India Cheating Congress'. So, these people have no other issues except to blame the BJP and spread falsehood," he said.

Earlier, a political controversy erupted after RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale questioned the legitimacy of including the terms "socialist" and "secular" in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.

The RSS leader had remarked that the "forceful" insertion of the words "socialism" and "secular" in the Preamble during the Emergency should be reconsidered today.

Reacting to the remarks, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday dared and challenged Hosabale and top leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the centre to remove the words "secular and socialist" from the Preamble.

"Days before, I heard that some RSS person said that we should remove Secular and Socialist words from the Constitution. I challenge them - be it him, their BJP, PM Modi, or Amit Shah - no one can remove those words. This is my challenge to them. Can you dare to remove it? This is all talk," Kharge said while addressing the gathering at the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) meeting.