Home minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday ‘secular’ was the most misused word in Indian politics, adding that BR Ambedkar didn’t find it necessary to insert the word along with ‘socialist’ in the Preamble because he felt it was already in the basic nature of people.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha in the two-day long special sitting of Parliament to discuss commitment to the Constitution as part of the 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Ambedkar, the home minister also took a veiled dig at actor Aamir Khan over the ‘intolerance’ debate.
“We know how many problems he (Ambedkar) faced, he must have been hurt, yet (kept) his emotions in control… But he never said I have faced discrimination in India, so I will go somewhere else,” Singh said, inviting objection from some Congress members.
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Khan has been in the thick of a controversy over his remarks that his wife Kiran Rao had discussed moving out of India in view of ‘growing intolerance’.
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, however, said there was nothing objectionable in the home minister’s remark.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha after Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi attacked the government over ‘growing intolerance’. “What we have been witnessing in the past few months is completely against the values that have been ensured by our Constitution,” she said.
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Earlier, Singh also paid tribute to the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the first home minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. “Our country was divided in different princely states when India got independent. They wondered if the country would be able to be united. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel gave us one India, but the need then was to have a binding material that keeps India together,” Singh said.
“This binding material is the Constitution. It has played an important role,” the home minister said. “Nehru ji has a very crucial role in building India,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“This binding material is the Constitution. It has played an important role,” the home minister said. “Nehru ji has a very crucial role in building India,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}With inputs from Agencies
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