‘Golden time to remove socialism, secularism from Constitution’: Himanta joins debate on Preamble

“Fifty years after the Emergency, be it the RSS or be it several intellectuals in the country, they have said that this is the golden time to remove the words socialism and secularism from the Constitution. We are a mature democracy… We don’t need to adopt the terminology of secularism from the British or American constitutions; we will take our secularism from the Bhagwat Gita,” Sarma said.

He was speaking at the Assam launch of the book ‘The Emergency Diaries — Years that Forged a Leader’. According to the publisher, the book is a compilation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s experiences during the anti-Emergency movement.

Sarma said an “Indian concept” of secularism had already been enshrined in the Constitution with Article 14, which guarantees equality before law to all persons.

“Our Constitution’s Article 14, where it says that there cannot be different treatment against anyone in the country by the State, that is the foundation of our secularism. At the time of framing the Constitution, Ambedkar had said that there is no question of mentioning the word secularism in the Constitution. Article 14 clearly says that the State cannot discriminate against anyone. That is the highest level of secularism… After Prime Minister Indira Gandhi introduced the word secularism in the Constitution, be it courts or intellectuals, they began looking at secularism through a Western lens. Because the word secularism is not conceived in the Indian context… We are not neutral… We are with the Hindus and we are with the Muslims, also. Here, secularism is a positive concept,” he said.

Speaking further on this, he said, “If we are neutral, we cannot work for sattras (Vaishnavite monasteries in Assam), namghars (community prayer halls), temples, cannot discuss matters of the Vedas, we cannot discuss about the Gita… Now, how can Himanta Biswa Sarma be secular? I am a hardcore Hindu. I cannot be secular. How can a Muslim person be secular? He is a hardcore Muslim. But in Hinduism, it is written, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family). If you are a hardcore Hindu, you have to reflect on Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. In Islam, it says that you always have to think positively towards the destitute. That means our secularism is never inspired by the Western definition of secularism… We are not neutral. We are positively aligned because India is a spiritual nation.”

He also said that socialism was never a part of Indian civilisation nor of the “economic ideals that Mahatma Gandhi had spoken about, which was trusteeship”.

“In our civilisation, no leader spoke about socialism. It is an ideology based on conflict… Because of that, we fell behind in competition with other countries… This socialism that was included in the Constitution did not have to be demolished by the BJP. The Congress, with Prime Minister Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh themselves, demolished it and they brought liberalisation to our economy… Narendra Modi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee took this liberalisation philosophy further,” he said, referring to the economic reforms of the early 1990s.