look news india
New Delhi: The Supreme Court made an important comment saying that secularism has always been a part of the basic structure of the Constitution of India. A look at the words equality and fraternity used in the Constitution as well as the rights under Part III would give clear indications that secularism has been considered a key feature of the Constitution.
The bench of Supreme Court Justices Sanjeev Khanna and Sanjay Kumar made this comment during the hearing of the case. Justice Sanjiv Khanna orally said that there are many judgments of this Court which accept that secularism has always been a part of the basic structure of the Constitution. A new model of secularism has been adopted in India, which is different from the French model of secularism.
BJP leader and former MP Subramanian Swamy and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay have filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding removal of the words secularism and socialism from the Preamble of the Constitution. During the hearing of which Justice Khanna asked the petitioners, “Don't you want India to become secular?” In response to this, a lawyer of the petitioner said that we are not saying that India should not remain secular but we are challenging the amendment in the Constitution. Dr. Ambedkar said that including the word socialism would reduce individual freedom. Later in reply Justice Khanna said that socialism can also mean equality of opportunity, the wealth of the country can be distributed equally. We do not accept western interpretations. At present, the hearing of this case has been postponed till next month.
