A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court of India to remove the words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ from the Preamble of the Constitution, the Organiser reported.
The two words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ were inserted in 1977 during the then Congress government, when Indira Gandhi had imposed ‘national emergency’.
These words were added unconstitutionally without debate or through parliamentary procedures and when all opposition leaders were in jail.
45 years later lawyers Balram Singh and Karunesh Kumar Shukla through advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain have filled a petition to expunge the words ‘socialism’ and ‘secularism’. Along with this the petition has also sought removing the two words mentioned in Section 29A (5) of the Representation of the People’s Act.
The petitioners have asked the Supreme Court to declare that the concept of socialism and secularism is limited to the sovereign powers and functioning of the government and that it does not apply to ordinary citizens, political parties and social organizations.
The petition argues that that the words ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’, were not in the original constitution drafted by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. These two words were added undemocratically without any discussion in the Parliament on 3 January 1977 through the 42nd Constitutional Amendment when Emergency was enforced on the country an when most of the opposition party members were in jail.
On three occasions attempt was made to add the word ‘secular’ to the Indian constitution but it was rejected by the Constituent Assembly on all the occasions.
More importantly, Bharat Ratna BR Ambedkar had also opposed the proposal because he believed that socialism and secularism should be confined only to the functioning of government.
The petition also states that Articles 14, 15 and 27 speak of the government being secular, that is, the government will not discriminate on the basis of religion, language, caste, place or varna. But Article 25 gives citizens the right to religious freedom in which a person has the freedom to believe and promote his religion.
The petitioners say that a government can be secular but not individuals or people. It further demands to remove the words, Secular and Socialist, from Section 29A (5), which was amended on 15 June 1989 in the People’s Representation Act of 1951.
As per Representation of the People’s Act, all political parties have to declare at the time of registration that they will follow principles of secularism. Section 123 of the Representation of People Act says that votes will not be sought on the basis of religion, but this does not mean that organisations cannot be formed on the basis of religion.
Referring to the judgement given by Justice DY Chandrachud in Abhiram Singh’s case which in 2017, stated that, “the Constitution is aware that discrimination and injustice based on caste, religion, language, etc. has happened in the past. Hence, to raise their voice, organisations can be formed and people can be organised on this basis in electoral politics.”
The petitioner states that if he wants to form a political party, he need not make the declaration under section 29A (5). The petition demands that the Supreme Court declare that the government does not have the right to compel people to follow principles of socialism and secularism in personal lives.