Government Confirms No Plans to Alter Constitution's Preamble

No Changes to the Preamble, Assures Law Minister

The Union government has no intention of removing the terms “secular” and “socialist” from the Constitution's Preamble, as stated by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal during a parliamentary session on Thursday.

Meghwal acknowledged that there are groups advocating for the removal of these words.

He emphasized that any potential amendments to the Preamble would necessitate extensive discussions and a broad consensus, but currently, the government has not initiated any formal procedures to alter these terms.

It is noteworthy that the terms “socialist” and “secular” were not included in the original Constitution adopted in 1950; they were added later in 1976 through the 42nd amendment.

In November, the Supreme Court dismissed petitions from BJP leaders Subramanian Swamy and Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, along with a separate petition from Balram Singh, which challenged the 1976 amendment.

Referencing this ruling, Meghwal stated that the court clarified that ‘socialism’ in India represents a welfare state and does not hinder private sector development, while ‘secularism’ is fundamental to the Constitution's core structure.

The court also noted that there was no valid reason to contest the constitutional amendment decades after its enactment.

Meghwal's remarks were in response to inquiries from Samajwadi Party MP Ramji Lal Suman in the Rajya Sabha, following a political controversy regarding the inclusion of these terms in the Constitution.

In June, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the ruling BJP, called for a reassessment of these terms.

Following comments from RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, then Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar remarked that the addition of “secular” and “socialist” during the Emergency was a violation of the essence of sanatana.

Sanatana dharma is often used interchangeably with Hinduism.

Union ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Jitendra Singh also expressed their support for reviewing these terms.

Chouhan argued that “secular” and “socialist” are not essential to Indian culture and called for discussions on their removal from the Constitution.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticized the RSS for its push to review these terms, suggesting that the organization’s true intentions were becoming clear.

In 2015, a controversy arose when advertisements from the BJP-led Union government omitted these words from the Preamble during Republic Day promotions.

In September 2023, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury claimed that the two terms were absent from the Preamble in copies of the Constitution distributed to MPs in the new Parliament building.