Supreme Court Upholds Secularism

The Supreme Court of India has ended the debate on the insertion of the words “secular” and “socialist” in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution by the 42nd Amendment in 1976 during the Emergency by the Indira Gandhi led Indian National Congress. Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar has said that under Article 368 that Parliament has the power to amend the Constitution and it extends to the Preamble as well. They dismissed the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the 42nd Amendment that enabled the addition of the words “secular” and “socialist” to the Preamble. They also rejected the argument that the words could not have been added retrospectively to the basic Preamble that had a cut-off date of 26th November,1949. Underlining this, the bench said that the Constitution was adopted on the 26th November,1949 does not make any difference as the date of the adoption does not curtail or restrict the power under the Article 368 of the Constitution. On the retrospectivity argument, the bench said that if accepted then it would apply equally to the amendments made to any part of the Constitution. Though the power of the Parliament to do so under Article 368 is incontrovertible and is not challenged. The Supreme Court judgement has made it clear that the Constituent Assembly had not agreed to include the words “secular” and “socialist” in the Preamble but the Constitution is a living document with the power given to the Parliament to amend it in terms of and in accord with the Article 368. It has also explained this judgement and justified it by saying that in 1949 the term “secular” was considered imprecise as some jurists and scholars interpreted as being opposed to the religion but with the passage of time India has developed its own interpretation of secularism. As the state neither supports any religion nor penalises the profession practice of any faith. The reason being that this principle is enshrined in the Article 14,15 and 16 of the Constitution. Similarly upholding the word “socialist” in the Preamble the Supreme Court has said that it should not be interpreted as restricting the economic policies of an elected government of the people’s choice at a given time. As per the apex court the word “socialist” denotes the state’s commitment to be a welfare state. The Supreme Court has also rejected the argument that this amendment was made during the period of Emergency by saying that this point was previously the deliberated in the Parliament, during the consideration of the Constitution 45th Amendment Bill, 1978 and subsequently this Bill was renumbered and called the Constitution 44th Amendment Act 1978. Upholding the words, “Secular” and “ socialist” the Supreme Court has said that the writ petitions were filed in 2020, forty-four years after the words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ became integral to the Preamble, makes the prayers particularly questionable. These terms have achieved widespread acceptance, with their meanings understood by “We, the people of India”. The additions have not restricted or impeded legislation or policies pursued by elected governments, provided such actions did not infringe upon fundamental and constitutional rights or the basic structure of the Constitution. The Apex Court of the nation has shown the path of socio-political and religious stability. It clearly establishes that India has evolved as a mature democracy.