Secularism and Constitution of India
From an age long discussion secularism word have been highlighted
frequently on media ,social media sites ,sometimes word secularism word from
the Constitution of India is taken as the bases understanding what is correct
and what is wrong happening in the country. In this article we will have a
detailed study about this word (secular), who introduced it in Indian Constitution,
Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar views on secularism etc.
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Preamble of Indian constitution in 1950(It doesn't have word secular in it.) |
The preamble specifies the source
of authority and the system of a government, the objectives to be attained by a
political system and the date of the adoption and enactment of the
Constitution. Though the Preamble is not enforceable in any court of law and
generally, not considered a part of the Constitution, it provides a principle
key understanding and interpretation of the Constitution; it has, therefore,
been described as the soul of a Constitution. In case of any doubt the Supreme
Court has referred to the Preamble to elucidate various aspects of the
Constitution. Now the question arises why the writer
of constitution Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar didn't placed word
secularism in it ,even Indian constitution give full access to
practice every religion with its full freedom why DR Ambedkar do this??
Dr B.R. Ambedkar was so opposed to the inclusion of word “secular” in the
Constitution of India. The text of the Constituent Assembly Debates has
been cited to argue that when Professor K.T. Shah proposed this inclusion of a
word “secular”, Ambedkar also opposed this amendment. The politically motivated
suggestion behind this development is that Ambedkar was not a supporter of a
secular Constitution for India. According to him secularism can be a policy of
a political party but not of a country.
The
context of this word’s insertion into the Constitution is a reason enough to
show it illegitimate. “Secular” was made a part of the Constitution’s Preamble
by a infamous 42nd Amendment enacted during the Emergency. Then Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi set up a committee in 1976 under the Chairmanship
of the Minister of External Affairs of that time Swaran Singh. When
most of the opposition leaders were in jail, the amendment severely curtailed
the fundamental rights of Indian citizens and also imposed a number of
fundamental duties upon them. Much of the 42nd Amendment has been rolled back
through court verdicts and succeeding legislation in parliament, but the word
secular remains in the draft.
Now the question arises why Indira Gandhi was in so
much hurry to add this word in constitution, and when the most of the
influential leader of oppositions were jail no one to oppose in Lok Sabha and
Rajya Sabha ,the bill passed ,was it possible if this bill had a proper
scrutiny in parliament if this was not an emergency?
Were this much of Government policies would have been opposed on the name of secularism??Wouldn't India have been a better place to live????
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