GUWAHATI, Nov 27 - Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today described the assertion made by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh that the architect of the Indian Constitution had never thought of putting the term, �secularism,� in the Preamble of the Constitution, but it was incorporated later through a Constitutional amendment, as a clear indication of the Bharatiya Janata Party�s (BJP�s) �evil design of establishing a Hindu Rashtra.�
In a statement, Chief Minister Gogoi said: �Union Home Minister�s comment on �secularism� is a direct aberration of the BJP from the tenets of the Preamble and exposes the party�s hobnobbing with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideology.� He also said the ruling dispensation at the Centre, together with the RSS, is encouraging divisive and communal forces to realise their communal agenda. Gogoi added that such direct �endorsement� is responsible for spreading �intolerance� with which the country has been inflicted since the last few months. Blaming the divisive and communal forces for vitiating the age-old principles of coexistence of the country, Gogoi said that such forces are also responsible for threatening the unity and integrity of the State and the country as well. They are also making attempts at subverting the time-tested democratic principles of the country.
The Chief Minister said that BJP president Amit Shah�s remark that �if by mistake BJP loses the polls in Bihar, crackers will go off in Pakistan� is a clear reflection of the BJP�s �one-line� agenda. Gogoi also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi�s stoic silence to tame such forces when they reared their ugly heads to disturb the secular fabric of the country.
�The situation had come to such a pass that President Pranab Mukherjee had to remind the country of its core values of plurality, tolerance and diversity,� he added.
The Chief Minister said, �India is a multi-religious, multi-cultural and multilingual country and its core characteristics, namely justice, liberty, equality and fraternity will be maintained only if its essence, �secularism,� is professed and honoured with all sanguinity.�
