The Supreme Court said on Monday that secularism has always been held to be part of the basic structure of the constitution and the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ on the preamble of the constitution should not be seen through Western lenses.
Observing that ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ in the preamble need not be looked at through the Western lens, a bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said, “Socialism can also mean that there should be equality of opportunity and wealth of the country should be distributed equally. Let’s not take the Western meaning. It can have some different meanings as well. Same with the word secularism.”
The top court’s observations came as BJP leader Subramanian Swamy – one of the petitioners – said the two words inserted in the preamble of the constitution in 1976 cannot bear the date of the original preamble which was framed in 1949.
The bench posted the matter for hearing in the third week of November.
Besides Swamy, the top court was hearing petitions by the lawyers Balram Singh, Karunesh Kumar Shukla, and Ashwini Upadhyay.
Swamy, in his petition, said the two words, inserted in the preamble through the 42nd Constitution Amendment Act of 1976 during the Emergency, violated the basic structure doctrine enunciated in the famous Kesavananda Bharati case judgment by the 13-judge bench in 1973, by which power of the parliament to amend the constitution was barred from tinkering with the basic features of the Constitution.
Swamy contended that the framers of the constitution had specifically rejected the inclusion of these two words in the constitution and alleged that these two words were thrust upon the citizens even though the framers had never intended to introduce socialist and secular concepts in democratic governance.
Rajya Sabha member and the Communist Party of India leader Binoy Viswam also approached the top court asserting that ‘secularism and socialism’ are inherent to the constitution and are basic features of the Constitution.