Socialist and Secular in the Preamble

Socialist and Secular, The Supreme Court will hear a petition seeking the removal of the words “Socialist” and “Secular” from the preamble of the Indian Constitution.

Table of Contents

How did the Words Socialist and Secular come into the Preamble?

Socialist and Secular: The term ‘Socialist’ means the achievement of socialist ends through democratic means. It is basically a ‘Democratic Socialism’ that holds faith in a mixed economy where both private and public sectors co-exist side by side.
Socialist and Secular: The term ‘Secular’ means that all the religions in India get equal respect, protection and support from the state.
The Socialist and Secular terms were inserted into the preamble as part of the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution in 1976 during the Emergency.
The 42nd Amendment to the Constitution replaced the words “sovereign democratic republic” with “sovereign socialist secular democratic republic”.
It also changed “unity of the nation” to “unity and integrity of the nation”.

Socialist and Secular Preamble at a Glance:

Origin:

The Preamble is based on the Objective Resolution moved by Jawaharlal Nehru in the Constituent Assembly on December 13, 1946.
Objectives Resolution was unanimously adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 January 1947.

Socialist and Secular Is it a Part of the Constitution?

Socialist and Secular preamble being part of the Constitution has been discussed several times in the Supreme Court through the following cases:

Berubari Union case (1960): The Court stated that ‘Preamble is the key to open the mind of the makers’ but it cannot be considered as part of the Constitution.
Kesavananda Bharati Case (1973): The Preamble of the Constitution will now be considered as part of the Constitution.
Union Government v/s LIC of India (1995): The Supreme Court has once again held that Preamble is the integral part of the Constitution.

Amendability

As a part of the Constitution, preamble can be amended under Article 368 of the Constitution, but the basic structure of the preamble cannot be amended.
The preamble has been amended only once through the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976.

Is it Justiciable?

The violation of any principle mentioned in the preamble cannot be a reason to go to court, meaning the preamble is “non-justiciable”.
However, judgments of courts can cite it as an additional factor in their reasoning, given that it constitutes the spirit of the Constitution.

Were Socialist and Secular Debated before Independence?

In Support of addition: Constituent Assembly members such as K T Shah and Brajeshwar Prasad had raised the demand to add Socialist and Secular words to the preamble, during the debates in the Constituent Assembly.
Ambedkar’s Views: He did not support the explicit addition of the words Socialist and Secular in the Preamble.
According to him, many principles affirming secularism and socialism were contained in the Constitution originally, such as in the Directive Principles of State Policy that is meant to guide the government in its actions.
Also, the fundamental rights allow the freedom to profess and propagate one’s religion, as well as in the government policies that recognize religious occasions across communities. Thus, an Indian version of secularism is followed.
As per Dr.Ambedkar, the policy of the State, organization of the Society in its social and economic side must be decided by the people themselves according to time and circumstances.
As per him, Socialist and Secular cannot be laid down in the Constitution itself because that is destroying democracy altogether.