Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party led government at the Centre is facing yet another controversy after its ally Shiv Sena said it wants the words 'socialist' and 'secular' removed from the Preamble of the Constitution of India.
"Removing the words socialist and secular is not controversy but the feeling of crores of Indians," Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said. He even went on to say that crores of Indians want the words removed as the country belongs to Hindus. "The country is of Hindus and belongs to them. People of all religions can live in India but Hindus will dominate," he said.
The controversy began after the government on Republic Day published an advertisement which had the words 'secular' and 'socialist' missing from an excerpt of the Preamble.
Slamming the government and its ally Shiv Sena, the opposition parties condemned the statement. "This is a secular country and not a Hindu country. The word secular cannot be removed arbitrarily on its own. This is an attempt to undermine the Constitution of the country," Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyer said.
The Nationalist Congress party (NCP) also said that the BJP only wants a Hindu nation. "BJP does not want a socialist, secular state, they want a capitalist Hindu state," NCP leader Nawab Malik said.
However, the government defended itself and stated the words secular and socialist were included only after 1976. "The words were included in the Constitution after an amendment in 1976. It doesn't mean that we are saying that before 1976 governments were not secular, we were just respecting the Preamble made at that time and used the same picture which was first made during the year of first Republic Day," Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said.
The words socialist and secular were not a part of the Preamble of the Constitution of India which was adopted in 1949. The two words were added by the 42nd amendment in 1976.
Below is the Preamble of The Constitution of India
WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.
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