'Socialist', 'secular' omitted from Indian Constitution’s Preamble

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday said the new copies of the Constitution provided to Parliament members on the opening day of proceedings in the new Parliament building on Tuesday do not have the words "socialist, secular" in its Preamble.

"The new copies of the Constitution that were given to us...the one we held in our hands and entered [the new Parliament building], its Preamble does not have the words 'socialist, secular'," he told news agency ANI.

In 2015, a government advertisement for Republic Day published in newspapers omitted the words "socialist, secular" in the image of the Constitution's Preamble and triggered an uproar.

The words "socialist" and "secular" were added in 1976 by the 42nd constitutional amendment to the Preamble, which reads: "We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic…"

In January 2015, then Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said there was "no harm" in debating whether the Preamble should have the words secular and 'socialist.

Two lawyers and a social worker planning to launch a political party filed a petition in 2020 in the Supreme Court seeking the deletion of the words "secular" and "socialist" from the Preamble.

Compulsorily following principles of socialism and secularism is among the conditions for registering a political party with the Election Commission of India. This was added to Section 29-A (5) of the Representation of People Act, 1951 by an amendment in 1989.