THE issue of withdrawal of words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ from the Preamble of the Constitution of India has reached critical stage. The issue assumed sudden importance when Mr. Dattatreya Hosable, the Sarkaryawaha of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) demanded the withdrawal of those two words from the Preamble. Even as many people rose to oppose the top RSS functionary, Vice President of India Mr. Jagdeep Dhankahar (who is also a celebrated legal luminary himself) supported Mr. Hosable by stating that the Preamble of the Constitution was beyond alteration but was tampered with during the Emergency. In a way, Mr. Dhankhar agreed that a correction could be in order. This assertion has kept the issue on the top of the current national discourse.

 

The argument against the usage or continuance of the two words -- ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ -- has been known to the nation. There is a sizeable percentage of the common Indian people who believe firmly that the two words now have business being there in the Preamble. Thus, an appropriate social atmosphere favouring change has been formed. This may, therefore, be a right time for the Government to think of introducing a correction in the Preamble. The founding fathers of the Constitution had chosen the wordings of the Preamble with much care and a concern for the long term effect of the Constitution and its Preamble. They had ruled out any other draft of the Preamble even as the Constituent Assembly engaged itself in a serious discussion over the choice of words at the start of the Constitution. Then came the dark moment of imposition of the “Emergency” on the nation -- during which the Government of the time made many decisions that ran counter to the spirit of India and its democracy. The sly introduction of the two words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ was one of those decisions, which now the country is resenting. Against this background, it would not be stretching things too much and too far if the Government initiates thought and action as regard changing the Preamble and restoring it to its original avatar.

 

There is no doubt that India is a secular State, and generally agrees to using pro-social ideology of governance and welfarism. When the country already had such a mindset, there was actually no need for anybody to tamper with the core value of the country’s socio-economic and political culture. Yet, in her brazenness of those peculiar times, the then Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi just pushed for introduction of those two words in the Preamble on the sly and get away with it. Now that the country is recalling the “Emergency” on its 50th anniversary, it is only natural that those who care for the sanctity of the Constitution started asking for restoration of the original draft of the Preamble. Whether such a change is actually possible and would ever be undertaken or not, is for the country’s political community to decide. But may there be no doubt that the common people are favourably disposed towards an appropriate change in the Preamble as the introductory document of the Constitution.

 

Time and again, the country’s political and legal communities have discussed the issue of the ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution. There is a general agreement that the ‘basic structure’ should be protected at any cost -- no matter the occasional amendments. The original draft of the Preamble also is an essential and integral part of the ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution since it underlines the core values and original purpose of having a statute of such importance. Hence the need at least to give a serious thought to the issue of withdrawal of the two words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ from the Preamble. Such a step would only mean that the nation is in readiness to correct its past mistakes.