l Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, while participating in the ‘Constitution Day’ debate said that Dr. B.R Ambedkar wished to add the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ to the preamble of the Constitution. However, he was unable to do so as the conditions were not conducive.
l Kharge’s contention is at odds with the transcript of the constituent assembly proceedings.
l There were suggestions to include the words in the preamble, but they were rejected by Ambedkar.
l For example, in November 1948, Prof. K.T Shah, representing Bihar, proposed the following amendment.
l “India shall be a Secular, Federal, Socialist Union of States.”
l Ambedkar opposed the amendment. Secularism was inherent to the Constitution’s structure and he felt that mentioning it in the preamble would be redundant.
l Shah made a strong case for the inclusion of socialism.
l “By the term `socialist’ I may assure my friends here that what is implied or conveyed by this amendment is a state in which equal justice and equal opportunity for everybody is assured, in which every one is expected to contribute by his labour, by his intelligence, and by his work all that he can to the maximum capacity, and every one would be assured of getting all that he needs and all that he wants for maintaining a decent civilised standard of existence,” said Shah.
l Ambedkar turned down the proposal by explaining his understanding of the Constitution. He felt that it was a mechanism for the purpose of regulating the work of various organs of the state.
l Building on this understanding, Ambedkar said: “What should be the policy of the State, how the Society should be organised in its social and economic side are matters which must be decided by the people themselves according to time and circumstances. It cannot be laid down in the Constitution itself, because that is destroying democracy altogether.”
l He concluded by observing that some of the directive principles in the Constitution are socialist in their direction.
Source: ‘The Times of India’
– 22nd October2024
