RJD president Lalu Prasad on Friday slammed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) second-in-command Dattatreya Hosabale for suggesting that the words "secular" and "socialist" be dropped from the Preamble of the Constitution.

The former Bihar chief minister, who says social justice and communal harmony are his guiding principles, voiced his anguish on X, calling the RSS a "casteist" outfit.

He shared a news clipping in which Hosabale, the RSS 'Sarkaryavah', had advocated doing away with the two words since these were "added to the Preamble by the Indira Gandhi government during the Emergency".

Voicing strong disapproval, Prasad alleged, "The country's most casteist and hateful organisation RSS has called for changing the Constitution." A staunch opponent of the BJP, the RSS' political offshoot, the RJD supremo also said, "They do not have the guts to cast an evil eye on the Constitution and reservations provided therein. Why are people with an unjust character so full of hatred for democracy and Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution?" The suggestion from the RSS' second senior-most functionary to consider removing the two terms came as he hit out at the Congress for its Emergency-era excesses and demanded an apology from the party.

Addressing an event organised on the Emergency, RSS general secretary Hosabale said on Thursday, "The Preamble of the Constitution Baba Saheb Ambedkar made never had these words. During the Emergency, when fundamental rights were suspended, Parliament did not work, judiciary became lame, then these words were added."

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