'Secularism Was Always Part of the Basic Structure of Constitution': SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court noted in an oral observation today, October 21, that ‘secularism’ was always seen to be a part of the basic structure of the constitution.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the inclusion of the words ‘secularism’ and ‘socialist’ in the Preamble to the constitution.

These words were included in the 42nd Amendment of 1976. It changed the description of India from a “sovereign democratic republic” to a “sovereign, socialist secular democratic republic”, and also changed the words “unity of the nation” to “unity and integrity of the nation” in the constitution’s Preamble.

Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party have often spoken of removing the word ‘secular’ from the Preamble. The current batch of petitions are by BJP leaders Subramanian Swamy and Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, and one Balram Singh.

LiveLaw has reported Justice Khanna as having orally said:

“There are a number of judgments of this court which hold that Secularism was always part of the basic structure of the Constitution. If one looks right to equality and word fraternity used in constitution as well as the rights under Part III, there is a clear indication that secular has been held as the core feature of the Constitution.”

He asked the petitioners: “You don’t want the India to be secular?”

Singh’s advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain claimed that the challenge was to the amendment and that the petitioners weren’t disputing that India is secular. Upadhyay also asserted that India has always been secular. Swamy claimed that the amendment was arbitrary as the preamble was a 1949 declaration.

LiveLaw reported that Justice Khanna also said that the words added by the amendment were separately marked by brackets and hence it was clear to everyone that they were added by the 1976 amendment. The judge further pointed out that words like “unity” and “integrity” of the nation were also added by the amendment, the report said.

The matter was listed for hearing in the third week of November.