Socialist & Secular - Forcefully added onto our Constitution!?

ARE SOCIALIST AND SECULAR FORCEFULLY ONTO OUR CONSTITUTION

On 30th of July, 2020, advocates Balram Singh and Karunesh Kumar Shukla ji thought of doing something jaw dropping, So, these advocates filed a petition regarding two words . These advocates filed a PIL in the Supreme Court regarding the two words- Socialism and Secularism And what was so jaw dropping in this PIL? The petitioners said that these two words were  “antithetical"  as well as the historical and cultural theme of India and that Indira Gandhi had made a huge mistake by adding them in the Preamble. 

   

Now, there is no reason to get so surprised If  bills can get passed in the Parliament without a vote and people can get arrested without a warrant then can the Preamble not thrive without socialism and secularism? In this article, we will see why there are repeated attempts and demands to remove socialism and secularism from the Preamble Why did Indira Gandhi insert them into the Preamble? Why were they added in our Constitution? And can we remove these two words from the Preamble today? I will tell you about the impact of it as well, but only after you press the subscribe button.

PETITION FOR THE REMOVAL

The slogan of "New India" is reverberating all across the country With the intent to change the country,  advocates Balram Singh and Karunesh Kumar Shukla challenged the addition of the words "socialist" and "secular" in the Preamble in Supreme Court And this is not the first time that such a demand has been put forward This year, on 19th March, BJP MP Rakesh Sinha moved a private member resolution on the same issue but he had only talked about socialism But both these instances basically point towards the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act

Almost as if they have the following reaction to this amendment- 

  

And they have objections against the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act because of several reasons First- The first reason is that this amendment interferes in our freedom of speech and freedom of religion By the way, our interference with freedom of speech and religion goes a long way back Anyway, as per their reasoning, secularism has been thrust upon the citizens, political parties and the organizations just like middle class parents thrust their expectations upon their children.

   

By the logic that allows the atheists to not believe in the theory of God/Supreme Maker, in the same way, people should have the right to not believe in ideals like secularism.

The second reason is that this amendment does not "fit well" into the cultural and historical theme of India. Their combination does not seem too great.That is, our country is one of the oldest civilizations of our country and the concept of "dharma" is an age old tradition.

   

Then why should we break the interference of words like secularism and socialism in it? Right? The third reason is that these two words were not a part of the original Preamble These two words were included in the Preamble in the year 1976 by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment act when the Indira Gandhi government was in power and a state of emergency had been declared in the country . There are allegations that the government jailed its critics one by one and then they did whatever they wished to. This fact holds substance. 

    

Just imagine! Imagine a lockdown in the country with emergency like situations in the country and anyone who speaks out against the government was targeted- irrespective of whether they are a politician, student activist, journalist or a doctor- It does not matter. And even the Supreme court was dead silent during such times Dark days indeed And during such dark days, a huge bill/amendment is pushed in the Parliament by force This is truly the death of democracy Now, can you imagine something like this happening today? Can it even be thought of? But something like this has indeed happened!

THE HISTORY

Okay, now that you have understood this far- Let us now play KBC First question- 

Why did our original Constituent Assembly reject these important words? despite so many debates and discussions.  Yes- there was a time in our country when debates and discussions used to take place ,Why were they not included in the original Preamble? The answer to this was quite simple Secularism is actually a foreign concept . The true meaning of a secular state means a state which, along with being impartial amongst all religions, does not interfere in any religion and stays separate from it Just like the science and arts stream are kept separated in our country .

 

Everyone in the Constituent Assembly did want a secular characteristic of the Constitution. They just did not want to use the word "secular" And that includes Nehru! Could you ever have imagined- BJP and Nehru actually wanted the same thing! *Miracle*. This is because as per the pure Western concept of secularism, and as per the dictionary definition, the government has no right to bring changes in any religion even for social welfare In simple words, as per the true concept of secularism, no government can make laws like the Triple Talaq law or the Hindu Marriage Act.

  

Did you understand the logic? Now, let us move to socialism The Constituent Assembly believed that the government should not dictate what kind of a society India chooses to become Wow! That is- if the society wishes to become capitalist, they should be allowed to do so Such lofty thoughts! Such great days indeed! And yet today- it seems as if almost every thing is dictated- What we should eat , some people say *Stop eating meat immediately*. What we should wear ,some say *Do not venture out at night and wear skirts* and whom we should marry , and also *We will not at all accept same gotra marriages* .

Despite all the arguments, Indira Gandhi believed that everyone's progress was important so "socialist" was added in the Preamble along with the word "secular" in 1976 Not completely in the western sense, but only to ensure a government that would look after all (MNREGA is an excellent example of how welfare socialism is done by the government ) And to ensure a government that would consider all religions to be equal and would interfere in them as and when the need arises.

Now, it is time for our next question: 

How do we change the Preamble again? Is there an undo button or not?

Janta Party tried to undo the 42nd Constitutional Amendment act right after emergency There was a lot of debates and discussions and this issue even reached the Supreme Court First, the Supreme Court denied that Preamble was a part of the Constitution just like the godi media denies that demonetization was a failure even today And it was said that if the Preamble is not a part of the Constitution, how can it be amended under Article 368? Later, a U turn was taken by the Supreme Court after much deliberation. And it emerged that the Preamble is indeed a part of our Constitution and words like "socialist" and "secular" can both be added to or removed from it . So, the Janata Party did bring some changes in some clauses of the 42nd Constitutional Amendment act but ,

why was "socialist" and "secular" not removed as well? Why did the Supreme Court also not raise an objection upon this? They were of the opinion that if it explicitly expresses what is implicit, then where is the problem? Did you not understand?

The Janta Party did have an opportunity to expunge these two words back in the 1970s but they did not do so Why?

This becomes our KBC mega question of 7 crores! How will the removal of Socialism and Secularism impact our Constitution? In my opinion Nothing will happen! At Least not in the Constitution Just like our Constitution makers had said, "socialist" and "secular" are not merely two words They are the base characteristics of the Indian constitution Articles 25-28 of the Constitution grant us the freedom of religion and the Directive Principles of State Policy tell us to strive towards a welfare state Furthermore, the principles of secularism and socialism are the basic structure of our Constitution which cannot be altered even by the Parliament And no, it is not me saying this. This was said by the Supreme Court in the Kesavananda Bharati case And if you still fancy the removal of these two words despite this, then go for it! Change them! Delete them! Erase them! It would hardly change anything in our Constitution If you imagine our country like a house, then the foundation and the walls of the house are made of socialism, welfare, secularism, equality etc. The Preamble is just the name plate- change it! But if the removal of these two words make no difference to our Constitution, then why are such demands made and PILs filed against socialism and secularism repeatedly? Why is it so important to remove them? 

As I was saying- some reasons were already mentioned in the beginning But there is another angle that makes this PIL extremely interesting This petition has challenged the inclusion of socialist and secularism in the Representation of People Act, 1951, Section 29 A (5). Any party that wishes to get itself registered under the Election commission of India has to wear the badge of socialism and secularism Be it a badge or a mask- they have to wear it . This PIL has raised an objection to this clause Because be it masks or badges- the people do not like being forced to wear it even if it is for the betterment of themselves and the country.

Say these petitioners form a party which openly declares that it is not secular and socialist! This society is already divided on the lines of religion akin to the division amongst Marvel and DC fandoms . What would happen if such a party starts campaigning or comes to power? A party whose core thought process and ideal is that it does not believe in socialism and secularism! Is it that this PIL wants to change our thoughts more than it wants to change the Constitution? Or that it wants to erase our secular and socialist ideals more than it wants to erase these words? There is a game in play somewhere-You too think like Daya, and try and find out whether someone is playing with us, our emotions and the foundations of our Constitution Words like socialism and secularism are put forward and even abused regularly. But they are very heavy words and they are an important part of our Constitution.

conclusion :-

So, it is essential to know about Socialism and Secularism and this article was a small presentation to show how important these words are in our Constitution and for our country If you liked the article, do like it and share it because blogger statistics tell us that the more people like it and share it, the more people will read it So, it is very important to put this word forward and share it with people If you really like our work.

 

Thank you and have a great day..!