- Vikas Pathak, Hindustan Times, New Delhi |
- Updated: Jan 28, 2015 07:52 IST
The information and broadcasting ministry's advertisement was released to commemorate India’s 66th Republic Day.
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A government advertisement for Republic Day published in newspapers omitted the words “socialist, secular” in the image of the Preamble to the Constitution, triggering uproar and signature campaigns over social media platforms on Tuesday.
The alleged faux pas in the advertisement printed on January 26 came to light a day before US President Barack Obama said at a public event in Delhi that upholding religious freedom was the responsibility of the Indian government.
“The controversy surrounding the ad is uncalled for. Photo of original Preamble was a way of honouring founding fathers of the Constitution,” tweeted minister of state for information and broadcasting (IB) Rajyavardhan Rathore.
The Preamble reads: “We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic…”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hailed the Constitution as the nation’s holy book, but the two missing words in the official ad have kicked up a controversy at a time when there are concerns about growing religious intolerance in the country.
Congress leader and former IB minister Manish Tewari attacked the Centre on the issue, saying the government advertisement deleted the two words and this was only a prelude to their substitution with “communal” and “corporate”.
“A democracy can’t succeed without people’s participation,” says the ad, a Republic Day message, quoting Modi.
It also depicts people wearing traditional Indian attire and carries the full Preamble of the original 1950 constitution in the background.
However, the words “socialist” and “secular” — added to the Preamble by the 42nd constitutional amendment act of 1976 — are missing.
Analysts said with the Centre making land acquisition easier under public-private-partnership mode and Bharatiya Janata Party state governments like Rajasthan and perhaps even Maharashtra moving towards labour reforms — lifting the protection of labour laws for a larger number of enterprises — the exclusion of the word “socialist” could also be considered controversial.
Dear Congress, what’s the fuss about? 'Socialist', 'secular' missing in Rajya Sabha calendar too
The BJP has been pushed in a corner over the issue of the "missing" words in the Preamble of our Indian Constitution as Opposition parties led by the Congress have unleashed their ire on the saffron party over the past few days.
If you happen to chance upon the Rajya Sabha calendar for the year 2015, the Congress faces an embarrassing situation when it comes to the Preamble and the missing words 'socialist' and 'secular.'
One of the advertisements issues by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on the occasion of 2015 Republic Day had used the image of the Preamble which didn’t have the words Socialist and Secular in it.
The original Preamble without the words 'secular and socialism' has been used as the backdrop for the Rajya Sabha's official calendar.
The Congress has gone on the warpath terming this move as deliberate and sacrilegious “no other party has doubtful integrity clause on secularism like the BJP,” said Randeep Surjewala, spokesperson for the Congress. But for hurting the ethos of the Constitution, there was little hue and cry when the same Preamble was published by the Rajya Sabha secretariat on their official calendar.
The original Preamble without the two words has been used as the backdrop for the calendar depicting the month of January.
Though BJP has gone ahead and said that it should be open to debate, the Congress maintains the moral high ground of keeping the current version of the Constitution as “sacrosanct”.
The two words of Socialist and Secular were added during the Emergency era (1976-77) as the 42nd Amendment that has been a subject of many a discourse over the decades.
The Congress has defended itself by saying the Amendment was with retrospective effect, but if that were the case, then they should have first hauled up their own men. BJP is in a minority in the Rajya Sabha, while Vice President has been Congress’ favourite by being their choice for the second time.
Though they may ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologize for the omission, little did they realize that the same embarrassment could be headed their way too.
The Forty-second Amendment of the Constitution of India, enacted in 1976, attempted to reduce the power of the Indian Supreme Court and High Courts to pronounce upon the constitutional validity of laws. It also declared India to be a socialist and secular republic, and as securing fraternity assuring the unity "and integrity" of the Nation, by adding these words to the Preamble of the Constitution of India. It laid down the Fundamental Duties of Indian citizens to the nation. This amendment brought about the most widespread changes to the Constitution until then, and is often called a "mini-Constitution".
The full title of the law was the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976. It was passed by the Indian parliament on 2 November 1976, during the Emergency (1975 - 1977), brought by the Congress government headed by Indira Gandhi. The Janata Party government, which came to power in 1977, brought about the 43rd and 44th Amendments to restore the pre-1976 position to some extent.[weasel words] The 42nd Amendment was dissolved by Janata party in 1977.[citation needed]
It allowed the State to protect and improve the environment for safeguarding public health, forests, and wildlife in 1976
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_the_42nd_amendment_to_the_Indian_Constitution#ixzz1kc9bW8aO
The preamble to the Constitution of India, which
has been amended by the 42
nd
amendment of the
con s t i t ut ion c am e into for c e on the 18
t h December, 1976. In the Preamble to the
c o n s t i t u t io n . Fo r t h e wo r d s , ³S o v e r e ig n
Democratic Republic, the words Sovereign
Democratic Socialist Secular Democratic
Republic´ shall be substituted; and for the words,
unity of the Nation; the words unity and integrity
of the Nation shall be substituted. So the preamble
as amended by the 42
nd
Amendment runs as
follows- ³We the people of India, having solemnly
resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign
Democratic Secular Socialist Republic and to
Secure to all its citizens, Justice Social Economic
and Political, Liberty of thoughts, expression
belief, faith and worship, equality of status and
opportunity and promote among them all fraternity
security, the dignity of the individual and the unity
of the Nation. In our constituent Assembly this
twenty-sixth day of November 1949 do hereby
Ad o p t , E n a c t a n d Giv e Ou r s e lv e s T h i s
Constitutio
Naxalism: National Security Implications
By
Lt.Gen Eric A.Vas [Retd]
The first recorded incident of left wing insurrection in free India was in Telengana.[1946-1951]. The movement was launched by peasants in their struggle on economic issues against forced labor, illegal exaction and unauthorised evictions. The movement was directed by the Communists and soon developed into an uprising against the feudal rule of the Nizam. More than 4000 lives were lost before the communists finally withdrew the struggle.
Naxalbari 1967
A revolt took place in three police stations in the Naxalbari area in 1967. About 65 per cent of the population of those areas are Scheduled Castes and tribals. When the land reform act was passed in 1955, jotedars started malafide transfer of land. Tribals armed with bows and arrows forcibly occupied the land, lifted stocks of hoarded rice and killed an inspector of police. Thereafter there were a number of similar incidents. The leadership of the movement was by communist cadres The CPI[M] government of West Bengal ordered a major deployment of police forces and after several operations the movement was squashed. This culminated in the formation of the Communist Party of India, Marxist-Leninist [CPI-ML]. About 30 people were killed in this uprising. But the term Naxalite came to stay. Naxallites are followers of Che Guevara. They believe that once the masses are convinced that the social wrongs cannot be rectified by pacific action, it is possible to ignite the spark of revolution. Their aim it to create condition where the authorities are forced to break the peace. The resultant violence then gathers its own momentum. Naxalism had a far reaching impact on the entire agrarian scene in India.
Tribals of the Srikakulam district of the eastern ghats are mainly involved in the organistion and collection of minor forest products. The British had decreed that no land could be transferred from the tribal to a plainsman without a permit of the district collector. After independence, traders took full advantage of advantage of inexperienced Indian administrators and the poverty of the tribals. They gave them their daily requirements of tobacco, kerosene, salt and cloth on credit and also lent money for the purchase of seeds. Ignoring the British decrees, they forced those who owed them money to part with their land which was then sold to plainsmen who squeezed the tribals, paid them low wages and made them give up two-thirds of the produce.
In 1967 a clash occurred between a group of tribals going to a meeting of the Marxist Party and a group of landlords armed with guns. Two tribals were killed. The movement became violent. There were a series of raids on houses of landlords and moneylenders, cash was looted and houses burnt down. Charu Mazumdar, the CPI-ML leader who had inspired the Naxalbari operations, visited the area and gave a fillip to the movement. From December 1968 to January 1969, 29 policemen were killed in action. During 1969 the Naxalities committed 23 murders and 40 dacoities before the situation was brought under control.
Adibhatla Kailasam was an Indian communist leader. Kailasam was one of the original leaders of the Srikakulam armed struggle. Kailasam came from a landlord family in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh. He joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and he was elected to its central committee at the party congress in 1970.
Kailasam was a school teacher by profession. In the early 1960s, Kailasam and his colleague Satyanarayan, began to organise tribal peasants in the Srikakulam area. State authorities began to register criminal cases against the two, and they decided to go into hiding. On July 7, 1970, Kailasam and Satyanarayan were captured by police. They were later shot dead.[1]
Vempatapu Satyanarayana (Satyam) was a schoolteacher, member of several Indian Communist organizations, and a leader of the Srikakulam Peasant Uprising of 1967, along with Adibhatla Kailasam. They had started the "land to tiller" movement in Andhra Pradesh, which later spread to South Orissa.
Satyanarayana joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI(ML)) through the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR). He became a member of the Central Organizing Committee of the CPI(ML) in 1969. Later, he became a member of the new Central Committee that was elected in the first party congress with Charu Majumdar as its General Secretary.[1]
He was also the Secretary of the Srikakulam District Committee of the party. His small booklet on Srikakulam Peasant Armed Upsurge details the nature of Naxalite influence in the early phases of 1969 and 1970 in Andhra Pradesh.
[edit]Death
It is a common belief among the Naxalite ranks, that he was killed together with Adibhatla Kailasam in a fake encounter in Srikakulam by the Andhra Pradesh police under the prior order of the state government around 10-11 of July 1970.[2][3]
Petition against term “socialist” in Constitution rejected
J. VENKATESAN
New Delhi 13 July 2013
The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/petition-against-term-socialist-in-constitution-rejected/article512832.ece
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed as withdrawn a writ petition challenging the validity of Section 2 of the Constitution (42nd Amendment) by virtue of which the word ‘socialist’ was inserted in the Preamble to the Constitution.
The petition, filed by the Good Governance India Foundation, also challenged the validity of Section 29 A (5) of the Representation of the People Act, which was inserted by way of Section 6 of the RP (Amendment) Act, 1989 making it incumbent upon every political party registered in India to pledge allegiance to the socialist ideal, failing which such a party would be rejected from registration.
A three-Judge Bench comprising Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia and Justices K.S. Radhakrishan and Swatanter Kumar, after hearing senior counsel Fali Nariman, Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam for the Centre and counsel Meenakshi Arora for the Election Commission permitted the petitioner to withdraw the petition saying that the issues raised would be left open and decided as and when the situation arose.
Mr. Nariman submitted that the 42nd Amendment, evolved in the climate of national Emergency, violated the basic structure of the Constitution. Prior to the amendment, the Preamble read as follows “We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign democratic republic.” After the amendment, the Preamble read: “We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic.”
AMBEDKAR’S OPPOSITION
Mr. Nariman read out debates in the Constituent Assembly to drive home the point that Dr. Ambedkar had opposed the inclusion of word ‘socialist’ in the Constitution. He said the court should go into the question whether the powers under Article 368 to amend the provisions would include the power to amend even the Preamble. Justice Kapadia, however, told Mr. Nariman that so far no political party had challenged this and every one had subscribed to it. The court would consider it when the Commission faced challenge from any political party.
The NGO, in its petition, contended that the 42nd Amendment altered the Preamble, which was impermissible as it contained the ideals and aspirations or the objects which the Constitution-makers intended to be realised by its enacting provisions. It said that such an insertion was wholly inconsistent with the phrase ‘liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship,’ in the Preamble itself.
The petitioner submitted that the 42nd Amendment attempted to create a particular ideological basis for adherence to the Constitution, which was against the principles of a multi-party democracy and which breached the unity and integrity of the nation. The ingestion of the socialist principle was antithetical to the principle of democracy, which was considered a basic structure of the Constitution.
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