This BJP MP wants “Socialism” word to be removed from Indian Constitution

Rakes Sinha is affiliated to right-wing politics and has authored several books including a Biography of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh founder KB Hedgewar.


Rakesh Sinha, a BJP MP from the Rajya Sabha is set to move a resolution in the House on Friday, seeking the removal of the phrase “socialism” from the preamble of the Constitution, arguing that the word is “redundant” in the current scenario and that the word should be dropped to create space for “economic thinking without a particular thought”.

The preamble of the Constitution declares India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic republic.

Rakesh Sinha has given a notice, seeking the Chairman’s permission to move the resolution to drop the word “socialist” on Friday during the time allotted for Private Members’ Bill, and his notice was admitted on Wednesday. A copy of every resolution which has been passed by the House is forwarded to the minister concerned and the minister can bring a law in the same line.

The terms “socialist” and “secular” had been inserted in the preamble later, to qualify the character of the Indian republic, as part of the 42nd amendment which was passed during the Emergency.

Many groups have sought to restore the original preamble. In 2015, controversy was sparked by a government advertisement on Republic Day, which featured the preamble with the words “secular” and “socialist” missing.

According to a report by Indian Express, When Sinha was asked why he did not object to the word “secular”, he told-  “There could be many views on the word secularism. Some may feel that it is still required, although the secular character is entrenched in our culture, civilization and in deeds. But in the present socio-economic developmental context, socialism is completely a redundant word.”

Pointing out that the word “socialist” was inserted in the Constitution by the 42nd Constitution Amendment Act, 1976, when the country was under Emergency and fundamental rights were suspended, Sinha said the move was made without any discussion or debate in Parliament.

“Ambedkar had argued that the Constitution is just a mechanism to regulate the work of the various arms of the states and that the matters like how the policy of the state and the society’s organization in the social and economic side should be matters which must be decided by people according to the time and circumstances. He argued and won the argument that it should be left to people to decide,” Sinha said.

Ambedkar contested that the directive principles expect the state to be egalitarian and that the socialist principles were already embodied in the Constitution.

Sinha argued, “You cannot tie a generation to a particular way of thinking. Besides, the Congress party which ruled the country for seven decades has changed its direction from being socialist to welfare to neo-liberalism. Its new liberal policies adopted in the 1990s have negated its own earlier positions.”

According to him, it showed that there should always be a scope of evolution in the thinking process based on time and context, as well as on the requirement of people.

Another reason for Sinha to take a position that the word should be dropped from the preamble is the policies of the current dispensation, led by Narendra Modi.

“The Narendra Modi government with its number of initiatives has restored welfare politics… Orthodoxy is not applicable to vibrant society,” he said.

Rakes Sinha is affiliated to right-wing politics and was nominated to be a Rajya Sabha member by the President of India on 14th July 2018. He has authored several books including a Biography of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh founder KB Hedgewar. He is a regular at TV debates and is considered an RSS ideologue.






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