India’s Constitution defines the country as a “Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic.”
However, there have been recent calls for the removal of “Socialist” and “Secular” from that preamble, arguing that these ideals aren't representative of the ethos. Yet in the BJP’s own party constitution, drafted and ratified by the very leaders who now question those words; “socialism” and “secularism” sit proudly on page one, mere lines below its pledge to uphold India’s unity and integrity.
“The Party shall bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and to the principles of socialism, secularism and democracy and would uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.”BJP Constitution
Meanwhile, leaders like Himanta Biswa Sharma and Shivraj Singh Chouhan go on record asking for removal of these two words. India’s Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar has joined the debate, calling the 1976 addition of “Socialist,” “Secular,” and “Integrity” an “insult to our Sanatana spirit.” But if India truly has no state religion, why invoke “Sanatana”? Did Dr. B.R. Ambedkar view the Constitution through a Sanatana lens? Certainly not.
This glaring contradiction lies at the heart of our debate. Why target two principles that India’s highest court has repeatedly declared part of the Constitution’s basic structure? And why seek their erasure?
The campaign to strip “socialist” and “secular” from our foundational text can trace its latest spark to Dattatreya Hosabole, general secretary of the RSS, who reminded an Emergency-anniversary gathering that these words were grafted onto the preamble in 1976. Yet when Morarji Desai’s post-Emergency government reversed most of Indira Gandhi’s amendments in 1978, it deliberately left those very words intact.
If we follow the logic of erasing any concept added after 1950, we will also have to remove OBC and EWS reservations, or expunge the entire chapter on fundamental duties. But these leaders don't have a problem with the word 'integrity' introduced in the same amendment.
Moreover, the BJP has assembled a coalition of parties whose charters explicitly champion socialism and secularism: Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), the Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), Janata Dal (Secular), and Apna Dal (Sonelal). If “secular” and “socialist” truly offend the BJP, will it next demand its allies rewrite their own constitutions?
Our courts have already settled these questions. The court upheld “socialist” as a commitment to a welfare state and equal opportunity without prescribing any single economic dogma.
Secularism in India means no state religion, equal respect for all faiths, and freedom of conscience for every citizen. Socialism signals our pledge to protect the vulnerable through public-private cooperation. These aren’t hollow slogans - they are the lifeblood of policies that feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and light the darkest corners of our nation.
In Janab, Aise Kaise, we confront this push head-on, exposing the hypocrisy of a ruling party that mentions these ideals in its own bylaws, even as it seeks to remove these words from the Constitution of the country.