Plea filed in Supreme Court to remove 'socialist' & 'secular' from India's Preamble

In a bid to remove the words socialist and secular from India's Preamble, a plea has been filed before the Supreme Court stating that the addition of those words through the 42nd Constitutional Amendment is “antithetical to the constitutional tenets as well as the historical and cultural theme of India.“ It demands the SC to direct the Union of India to declare that the concept of 'socialism' and 'secularism' in the Constitution be 'limited to the working of the sovereign function of the State and same is not applicable to the citizen.'

The plea which has been filed by advocates Balram Singh and Karunesh Kumar Shukla and an individual Pravesh Kumar, says that the move was “per se illegal for violating the concept of freedom of speech and expression enumerated in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and the right to freedom of religion guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution”.

The petition filed through advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain - who was VHP's Counsel in the Ram Janmabhoomi case - also states that the amendment was against the historical and cultural theme of the “great republic of Bharat, the oldest civilization of the world, having clear concept of 'Dharma' different from the concept of religion”, and that the communist theory of State cannot be applied in Indian context which was not in tune with the religious sentiments and socio-economic conditions of India.

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 “Issue appropriate direction striking down the words 'Socialist' and 'Secular' inserted in the Preamble of the Constitution by section 2 (a) of the Forty Second Constitution Amendment Act, 1976,” the petition demands.

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PIL to rename India as 'Bharat'

Earlier in June, a PIL was filed by an individual named Namah seeking to change the name of the country from 'India' to "Bharat". In this plea, petitioner - Namah - sought enforcement of the fundamental rights under Article 21 of the Constitution which entitles every citizen equal right to call his or her own country as 'Bharat'. Moreover, he had contended that the Union Government has failed to do away with the symbol of slavery by using the name ‘India’ instead of Bharat or Hindustan. 

A bench headed by the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde refused to entertain the plea and told the petitioner that "Bharat" was already included as a name for the country under the Constitution of India, clarifying that the Supreme Court "could not do" what the petitioner was asking for. 

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