A bench of Chief Justice of Supreme Court Justice Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar rejected the petition to remove the words socialism and secularism which were added to the Preamble of the Constitution by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment 1976.

The bench said that the words socialist and secular express the fundamental characteristics of Indian democracy. Moreover, they are part of the Basic Structure of the Constitution.

In this decision, the Chief Justice said that in the Indian context, the word socialism refers to a ” welfare state which should stand for the welfare of the citizens and provide equal opportunities to all “.

In the petition filed by MP Dr. Subramanian Swamy and others, it was said that the Preamble of the Constitution cannot be amended or repealed, so the words socialism and secularism which were added by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment 1976 should be removed. On this, the Supreme Court said that the power of Parliament to amend the Constitution under Article 368 also includes the Preamble and the Preamble is an integral part of the Constitution.

It is noteworthy that in SR Bommai case of 1994, the Supreme Court had considered secularism as part of the Basic Structure of the Constitution. Moreover, the judges defined Secularism as ” freedom of religion to all citizens and the state should treat all citizens equally “.

Background:-

The doctrine of Basic Structure was introduced by the Indian Judiciary in the Keshavananda Bharati Case 1973 to put a limitation on the amending powers of the Parliament so that the ‘Basic Structure of the Constitution’ cannot be amended in the exercise of its ‘constituent power’ under Article 368 of the Indian constitution.

The 42nd Amendment Act of 1976, also known as the “mini-Constitution“, made several changes to the Constitution, including the Preamble by adding the words “Socialist“, “Secular” and “Integrity“.