Congress claims ‘socialist and secular’ removed from new copies of Constitution

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Also read: Women’s Reservation Bill tabled; debate erupts over implementation timeline India's first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru and the Architect of the Indian Constitution BR Ambedkar both were strongly committed to the ideal of secularism. Yet, when it came to including 'secular' both were wary of its usage. They fully know the truest meaning of the term but could not be applied in the Indian context.

Avoiding the inclusion of secularism in India's preamble 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". “It is an ideal to be aimed at and every one of us whether we are Hindus or Muslims, Sikhs or Christians, whatever we are, none of us can say in his heart of hearts that he has no prejudice and no taint of communalism in his mind or heart," Nehru's thoughts on secularism.

The Constituent Assembly adopted Articles 25, 26, and 27 of the Constitution but did not formally insert 'secularism' in the document. The word was embedded in the constitutional philosophy. On 26 June 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi announced on the All India Radio that “the president has proclaimed Emergency." A 20-page long detailed document gave unprecedented powers to the Parliament.