Are “Socialism” and “Secularism” under threat?
Socialism is acknowledged as the cherished goal of Indian political system. Socialism lays emphasis on the welfare of the people, it seeks to give equality to the people and tries to remove exploitation of one class by the others and ensures economic and political equality to all. (Source: AllResearchJournal)
What does “Socialism” mean in the Indian Constitution?
India said to be a bouquet of different kinds of flowers and every flower has its own fragrance. India as a nation always stood up for “equality before the law” and “unity in diversity”. But a diverse nation which is as diverse as us, the inequality, injustice and differential treatment has made the equality shallow. This is where Socialism came into the picture. The framers and fathers of the constitution kept this in mind while framing the largest constituon on earth. Socialism talks about the welfare of the people. Socialism in India is all about reducing economic disparities, Creating social, economical equality. Also, there is what we call wealth distribution among a few of the “to-do” list for a socialist country.
It seeks to give equality to the people and tries to remove the exploitation of one class by the other and ensures economic and political equality to all.
When “Socialism” became the part of the Indian Constitution: History behind the 42nd Amendment
During the Emergency (25 June 1975–21 March 1977) the government headed by Indira Gandhi The 42nd Amendment of the Constitution of India came into the picture. This amendment brought the necessary changes in Indian Constitution which later was on accepted as the “Basic Structure of The Constitution”
Few of the many changes undet this Amendment are
- Addition of “Socialist, Secularist and Integrity” in The Preamble of The Constitution
- Added Fundamental Duties by the citizens (new Part IV A)
- .Four Directive Principles were added.
The new preamble was even called as the mini-constitution itself
One great thing about this amendment was addition of “Socialist, Secularist and Integrity” in the Preamble of the Constitution
New Preamble of Constitution with the terms “Socialst and Secular”
Post 42 Amendment, India officially became a Secular nation. Although, Article 15 was already there since the beginning to protect its citizen from any discrimination.
Is Socialism in danger?
The Right ideology mainly believes in the rule of a class. They never accept the idea behind equality in diversity. The same idea of anti-socialism was brought by BJP in 2014.
In its Independence Day Ad, the BJP Govt omitted “Socialism” and “Secular”. They have been quite open about this thought since they came in power in 2014
Since then many renowned leaders of BJP have come out in open against the terms “Socialism” and “Secular”.
Why do they want to remove these terms from the Indian Constitution?: The relation between Socialism and Secularism
As I said above, the Right-Wing and Far-Right ideologies never accepted the idea of diversity. If Socialism provides social and political equality then Secular provides treatment of all religions equally. Wherever there is socialism, Secularism must be there. Both of them complement each other towards building a strong diverse nation.
That is something not easily accepted by the far-right who particularly believe in the rule of a race, or simply the hindu-Rashtra.
Recently, a BJP MP Rakesh Sinha proposed a resolution to remove the term “Socialism”.
A BJP member of the Rajya Sabha is set to move a resolution in the House on Friday, seeking the removal of the phrase “socialism” from the preamble of the Constitution, arguing that the word is “redundant” in the current scenario, and that the word should be dropped to create space for “economic thinking without a particular thought” (Source: IndianExpress)
Can they legally remove Socialism and Secularism from Preamble? Fortunately, the answer is NO!!! They Can’t!
How?
To know-how, we need to go back to 1973 the most remarkable judgment by the largest bench ever sat in the world-famous case called Kesavananda Bharati Verdict of 1973
In the famous case, Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala The Supreme Court of India sat the largest bench of 13 judges and ruled out that The Directive Principles and The Preamble are the Basic Structure of the Constitution. And No Govt can ever, ever remove any word from it. Yes, they can add more, but CAN’T DELETE A SINGLE WORD FROM THE PREAMBLE.
But India did not become a socialist and a Secular Country in 1976. India has always been a socialist and secular from day 1 of Independence. The Basic Structure came into the picture in 1973 which gave a boost to the integrity of the country and keeping the Constitution above all.
We have Article 38 and Article 39 which simply talk about Socialism and Secularism long before 1973
So any changes that may hurt the socialism would directly impact the very idea of India and its constitution. The Far Right has been opposing this very idea and it’s quite possible they will surely keep their attack on against Socialism and then Secularism
But we as Indian would protect our constitution and it’s very idea of socialism , secularism and equality on which our nation has built upon
The views expressed are personal.
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