Indira Gandhi First Changed The Preamble, BJP Would Never: Rajnath Singh To NDTV

"In 1976, the first time a change was made to the Preamble of the Indian Constitution. And that was done by Indira Gandhi," Rajnath Singh told NDTV.

The BJP will never change the Preamble of the Indian Constitution or end reservation, Union Minister Rajnath Singh said in an exclusive interview with NDTV. Mr Singh said that the Congress had changed the Preamble in 1976, but is now trying to unnecessarily target the BJP and make it a poll issue.

"In 1976, the first time a change was made to the Preamble of the Indian Constitution. And that was done by Indira Gandhi," Mr Singh told NDTV.

"And our constituent assembly was then of the consensus that amendments can be made to the Constitution as required. Congress and other political parties have done this a lot. But there is no question of making changes in the preamble. But they did it, and are now trying to blame us. The BJP does not even think about it," he added.

Rajnath Singh's remarks come after claims by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi that the BJP will "tear up and throw away" the Constitution if it retains power. Some other Congress functionaries had expressed apprehensions that the BJP may drop the word "secularism" from the Preamble of the Constitution.