How Has the Secularism Debate Shaped Up Under Modi Sarkar?

The debate over whether the Constitution should have the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ has revived since 2014.

The debate over whether the Constitution should be amended to remove the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ defines the state of rhetoric in Indian politics today. 

(Photo: Liju Joseph/The Quint)

Should the Indian Constitution be amended to remove the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’?

This is perhaps the most defining question in Indian politics today.

And with the Winter Session of Parliament about to conclude, parliamentarians are pressing hard to know what is the Modi government’s stand on the issue. As of now, the BJP-led NDA government has said that it does not subscribe to the views expressed by Minister of State Anantkumar Hegde.

Speaking at an event in Karnataka’s Koppal district on 25 December, Union Minister of State Anantkumar Hegde had said that those who identify themselves as secular were unaware of their parentage and claimed that the government was moving to amend the Constitution.

India’s founding fathers had, in fact, decided against including secularism in the Preamble to the Constitution.

The original Preamble adopted in January 1950 read: “We the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC....”. After the 42nd amendment made by the Indira Gandhi government in 1976, it read: “We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC...” 

Here’s a timeline of how the presence of these two words in the Preamble has courted controversy since Narendra Modi came to power.

26 January 2015: The first time the controversy over the Preamble erupted was in January 2015, when the 1950 version of the Preamble – which did not have the words “secular” and “socialist” – was published in a government advert.

The advertisement ironically reads, “A democracy can’t succeed without people’s participation.”

The Congress at the time started a tirade against the government, accusing them of polarising the country along religious lines.

27 January 2015: Interestingly, the controversy came as an embarrassment to Prime Minister Modi, who had invited the then US President Barack Obama as the chief guest at the Republic Day parade that year. A strong statement by Obama, while speaking at the Siri Fort Auditorium a day after the Republic Day celebrations, about BJP’s track record in protecting minorities was enough to put the government on the back foot.

Our freedom of religion is written into our founding documents.  It’s part of America’s very first amendment.  Your Article 25 says that all people are “equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion.”  In both our countries – in all countries – upholding this fundamental freedom is the responsibility of government, but it’s also the responsibility of every person.

Barack Obama, former US President

27 January 2015: An online petition was circulated by activists like Kavita Krishnan, Aruna Roy, Simantini Dhur and the like, against the advertisement. The petition garnered huge support on the social media.

A part of the petition read:

At the time when the people of India, and even the global community, have genuine apprehensions about the secular character of the Indian democracy, which stands threatened by a right-wing government formed with less than one-third of the popular votes, this omission is utterly condemnable.

Rajyavardhan Singh Tweets Clarification

27 January 2015: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, the junior minister for information and broadcasting, in a series of tweets clarified the government’s stand. He tweeted that the controversy was “uncalled for” and the older image of the Preamble was used to “honour” the founding fathers of the Constitution.

"Delete the Word ‘Secular’ From the Preamble,” Demands Shiv Sena

28 January 2015: Shiv Sena set the ball rolling on re-wording the Preamble, when MP Sanjay Raut demanded that the words “secular” and “socialist” be permanently deleted from the Preamble.

We welcome the exclusion of the words (‘secular’ and ‘socialist’) from the Republic Day advertisement. Though it might have been done inadvertently, it is like honouring the feelings of the people of India. If these words were deleted by mistake this time, they should be deleted from the Constitution permanently.

Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena MP

Ministers Follow Suit

29 January 2015: Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad called for a “debate” over the inclusion of words “secular” and “social” in the Constitution.

We do not need these words to be a secular country; even without them we are a secular country.... If the country is debating it, then why are we scared to debate it?

Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Law Minister

Underlining the fact that the founding fathers of the Constitution had not included the words “socialist and secular” in the original Preamble, and that had not diminished their secular outlook towards the country, Prasad also pointed out that that the two words were introduced in the Preamble only during the Emergency.

BJP Chief Clarifies Party Position

2 February 2015: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah, in an interview to The Hindu, assured that his party respects the Constitution as it stands. He said that the entire debacle over including “secularism” in a government ad for Republic Day was “meaningless”.

The BJP believes that the Preamble, as it stands today, should remain. There is no need to change it.

Amit Shah, BJP president told The Hindu

24 February 2015: After Congress’ Jyotiraditya Scindia raised a hue and cry in the Lok Sabha, accusing BJP of deliberately calling for debates over secularism and socialism despite the Supreme Court ruling that the two word are “inviolable” to the Constitution. The then Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu denied any government proposal to amend the Preamble.

Arun Jaitley Directs I&B Ministry to Use 1976 Version of Preamble Henceforth

24 February 2015: Arun Jaitley, who held the post of the I&B Minister back in 2015, finally brought the war to peace in a written reply to Rajya Sabha. He assured that only the 1976 version of the Preamble will be used in all future advertisements. He reiterated the words of Rajyavardhan Rathore and said that the picture which was sourced from the website of Parliament Museum was only intended to honour the founding fathers of the Constitution.

28 February 2017: On the back foot, Ravi Shankar Prasad responded to Scindia’s furore in Lok Sabha and said he never sought a debate on the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ in the Constitution’s Preamble.

What I had said in the press conference was that the Congress should debate whether Jawaharlal Nehru was secular or not, as he and leaders like Maulana Azad and Sardar Patel did not include the word ‘secular’ in the Constitution.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Law Minister

Elements within the BJP have sought to rake up a controversy over the Preamble despite its leaders specifying that there will be no such change. And although it serves as a talking point for the Opposition to corner the government, the demand for a debate over the meaning of ‘secular’ has to be seen in context of the Assembly elections in Karnataka, where the narrative is getting increasingly polarised.

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