Supreme Court says secularism a core part of the Constitution

In 1973, the largest Bench in the history of the Supreme Court had held that the Preamble was an integral part of the Constitution in the Kesavananda Bharati case

The Supreme Court on Monday (October 21, 2024) said secularism is an indelible and core part of the Basic Structure of the Constitution.

The court made the oral observation while hearing a batch of petitions filed by former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy and others challenging the inclusion of words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ in the Preamble of the Constitution.

“This court has in a number of judgments held that secularism was always part of the Basic Structure of the Constitution. If one looks right to equality and the word ‘fraternity’ used in the Constitution, there is a clear indication that secularism has been held as the core feature of the Constitution,” a Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar said.

Justice Khanna disagreed with the petitioners’ argument that the term ‘socialism’ would curtail personal liberty and individualism.

“One should not take the meaning adopted in Western countries… Socialism can also mean that there should be equality of opportunity and the wealth of the country should be distributed equally,” Justice Khanna remarked orally.

Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, a petitioner, said he was neither against the words “socialist, secular and integrity” nor their insertion in the Constitution but against the insertion of these words into the Preamble in 1976 and that too with a retrospective effect from November 26, 1949.

The Preamble was amended in December 1976 by the Indira Gandhi government to introduce the words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’. The phrase “unity of the nation” was replaced with “unity and integrity of the nation”. The changes were made in the Preamble through the 42nd Constitutional Amendment during the Emergency.

Originally, the text of the Preamble declared India as a ‘sovereign, democratic republic’. The words ‘socialist’, ‘secular’ were inserted between ‘sovereign’ and ‘democratic’.

The largest Bench in the history of the Supreme Court (13 judges) in the Kesavananda Bharati case had held that the Preamble was an integral part of the Constitution, and was subject to the amending power of the Parliament, provided the basic structure was not tinkered with.

Advocate Sriram Parakkat, appearing for Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Binoy Viswam said the 42nd amendment was indeed “infamous”. It had after all tried to reduce the power of the Supreme Court and High Courts. “While subsequent amendments more or less restored the Constitution to what it was pre-1976, this change was made in the Preamble… that we are secular and socialist… was retained,” Mr. Parakkat submitted in court.

Published - October 21, 2024 09:33 pm IST