Recently there have been debates on the BJP trying to remove ‘India’ from the social fabric of this nation, if news reports are true words such as ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ are off from the Preamble.
What is a Preamble?
A preamble is an exhaustive explanation over the governance in terms of its objectivity, foundations and mindset of the nation. Recently the leader of the Congress MP from Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that a new book on governance was circulated amongst MPs in the Parliament House do not contain the word ‘socialist’ meaning that earlier the public can freely practice any religion due to the nature of secularity that was mentioned in the Preamble but the present scenario seems to be different.
‘Tactics like these are very dangerous and cunning. It is worrisome and I tried to raise this issue but could not get a chance,’ said Adhir.
Did the words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ exist since the time the preamble was written?
No! The two words were paved way into the preamble as part of the 42nd amendment in the year 1976 during the Emergency period which was declared by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
These words would strengthen the existing foundations of the nation to defend the minorities making sure that the oligarchs would not be able to force over the reigns of the country.
Why did they not include these words in the initial stages of the preamble?
The preamble was started under the prime ministerial ship of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and given due credit in the Parliament on 26th November, 1949 and received its wings on 26th January, 1950.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the architect of the Constitution BR Ambedkar saw the strength of secularism but the word ‘secular’ was unsure to be implemented in spirit.
BR Ambedkar said that the people of India had to decide on how to govern this nation. These two stalwarts echoed that even ‘secularism’ was not written on the preamble but the meaning was in tandem with the foundations of the governance.
Who changed the preamble?
June 26th, 1975, late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared in All India Radio that the President of India promulgated Emergency. According to Article 352, the President can declare a national emergency if the sovereignty of the country comes under threat. During such times the President can amend certain sections including fundamental rights.
During these years a written document which consisted of 20 clauses and the parliament was given freedom to act upon it including the preamble was changed.
The introduction regarding India into the preamble was changed from “sovereign, democratic republic’ to ‘sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic.”
According to the Constitutional Amendment 42 of 1976, the preamble was changed to make India into a supreme nation working for the benefit of the people of the country.
Shehzad Poonawalla, spokesperson of the BJP lambasted the Congress that the saffron party does not want to delve into the history of governance in India and they(INC) are making an issue out of nothing.
BR Ambedkar said that the people of India had to decide on how to govern this nation. These two stalwarts echoed that even ‘secularism’ was not written on the preamble but the meaning was in tandem with the foundations of the governance.
