All India Congress Committee general secretary K.C. Venugopal, MP, has slammed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Union Ministers for suggesting the removal of the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ from the Preamble of the Constitution.

Speaking to media persons in Alappuzha on Saturday, Mr. Venugopal said the RSS-BJP agenda to amend the Constitution would not be allowed to succeed. “There is a conspiracy. After all, the BJP came to power by creating confusion and doubt among the people. Union Ministers have said that secularism and socialism are unnecessary. This amounts to a violation of the Constitution,” he said.

The Congress leader said the RSS was evoking memories of the Emergency to push for Constitutional amendments. “Even the word socialism seems to scare them. The claim that the RSS stands for the Hindu community is false. We will not allow secularism and socialism to be removed. We will resist any such move, including in Parliament,” Mr. Venugopal said.

RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale has suggested removing the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ from the Preamble. Union Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Jitendra Singh later threw their weight behind the idea.

Earlier, inaugurating the Youth Congress training camp in Alappuzha, he called for strengthening the organisation from the grassroots. “Good leadership is not enough. The foundation should be strong. We need to strengthen the foundation of the organisation to move forward,” Mr. Venugopal said.