Controversy Over 'Socialist' and 'Secular' Terms in India's Preamble

The original preamble of the Indian Constitution is that "We, the people of India, to constitute India a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic and to secure to all its citizens social, economic and political justice, freedom of thought, expression, belief, religion and worship, equality of dignity and equality of opportunity and to promote fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and unity and integrity of the nation, being determined hereby in this our Constituent Assembly on this the 26th day of November, 1949 do hereby adopt, enact and give ourselves to this Constitution." In this, three words socialist, secularism and integrity were added in 1976 during the emergency period. This was done by the then Parliament by making the 42nd amendment.

Sarkaryavah (General Secretary) of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Shri Dattatreya Hosabale has advocated the removal of two words socialist and secularism and said that these words were not there in the constitution given by Baba Saheb Ambedkar on 26th November, 1949. Shri Hosabale has not raised any objection to the word integrity. His statement has led to political controversy in the country which cannot be justified in any way. Congress's opposition leader in Lok Sabha Shri Rahul Gandhi has made the allegation that the people of BJP and Sangh do not want constitution but they want Hindu Manusmriti. Sangh definitely believes in Hindutva but its patriotism cannot be questioned.

So Shri Rahul Gandhi should also be careful before accusing the Sangh. We should also remember the incident when around 2002, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister of the BJP led Vajpayee government at the Centre, late Shri. Pramod Mahajan had distributed handwritten copies of the Constitution among the members of the House in the Lok Sabha. It was written by Mr. Prem Bihari Narayan Raizada in his beautiful article and on it were pictures of Lord Rama returning from Lanka Vijay along with pictures of other great men which were made by a renowned painter like Nand Lal Bose to make the handwritten copy of the Constitution beautiful. This handwritten copy had the signatures of the great politicians of that time who were members of the Constituent Assembly. Mr. Mahajan had then argued in the Parliament that this copy of the Constitution shows that there is no need for the word secularism and as far as India being a socialist country is concerned, the economic liberalization policy that has been in place since 1991 is a market based economy, hence there is no need for this word either.

If seen, there was no logic for India to follow socialist policies then because the Vajpayee government was selling loss making government companies to capitalists. Thus, the economic philosophy of India was linked to capitalism, but the then opposition had severely criticized them in the Parliament and said that the original copy of the Constitution also has pictures of Akbar and Tipu Sultan and the entire Indian Constitution is such an open form of socialism in which socialist policies have been advocated and every citizen has been given equal status and it has been said to bring economic equality. Therefore, the purpose of adding the word socialist in the preamble is completely logical and timely. But then this matter did not go further and the debate remained confined to claims and counter-claims. After this, the Supreme Court has also given a decision in favor of adding these two words.

Along with this, it is also true that the duties of citizens were also added during the Emergency period in various sub-sections of the 42nd Amendment. Before this, only the rights of citizens were talked about in the Constitution. The Preamble of the Constitution also talks about the basic rights of citizens. In fact, the Preamble or Objective is the introduction letter of the Constitution in which the goals have been declared. But behind Mr. Hosabale's statement is the ground reality of India. Indian Hindu culture is in itself secular. Hindus have hundreds of ways of worship. Some worship the saakar Brahma, while others worship the nirakar Brahma. Some consider God to be virtuous, while others consider him nirguna. There are thousands of gods and goddesses and kul devatas. Therefore, being a Hindu is in itself a guarantee of secularism. Now the question is, what is the difference between Hindu Rashtra and Hindu Raj? Hindu Rashtra is the carrier of its culture, while Hindu Raj binds the administrative system in narrowness.

This difference needs to be understood. The Constitution advocates providing equal opportunity to every person, and that too while keeping his dignity intact. Therefore, it is a supporter of the socialist stream, so why is it necessary to have the word socialist in the preamble? After all, our Constitution makers must not have kept the words socialist and secular after giving it some thought. As far as the question of national integrity is concerned, it should be welcomed. No one has any objection to the duties of citizens being specified in the Constitution. The Constitution also guarantees justice to every citizen. This is what is guaranteed in the socialist system, which is in various provisions of the Constitution. The importance of these two words in the Constitution is more ornamental. Because even today the Modi government is providing two meals a day free of cost to 80 crore people. This path has emerged from the midst of a market-based economy.