Source:- www.civilsdaily.com
Every country has its own Constitution, written or unwritten, which consist of a very vital part to run its country under some rules and regulations to avoid some age-long challenges faced by the country, and that is its Preamble which shows the essence of constitution and show the sources for which documents derives their meaning
Recently, as we see nationwide protests against Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, many have held up the Indian Constitution and say this Act is in against it [1]. In our preamble the word, ‘Secular and Socialist’ added by the 42nd amendment represents that Indian is a secular state but as CAA appears, many protesters show their hatred towards this act by saying it goes against the preamble of India.
What is Preamble?
A preamble is a brief statement given guidelines, a summarized form of any constitution under which people’s aspiration and goals of society are given. It is the supreme law of the land of any country, like the preface it highlights the entire constitution.
Concept of adoption of the preamble:-
Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru wants to make the Preamble of the constitution in an objective resolution which shows the underlying principles of the constitution. This resolution enshrined the aspirations and values behind the constitution formation and this resolution was adopted by the constitutional assembly on 22 Jan 1947.
On 17 Oct 1949, preamble took up the for discussion in the Constituent Assembly where different opinions were given by different leaders as to amend the Preamble in many ways.
Hasrat Mohani urged the Assembly to rename India as the ‘Union of Indian Socialistic Republics,’ similar to the USSR. Members were not convinced with this suggestion as they felt that it would go against the already adopted constitutional scheme. Another amendment given by H.V. Kamath by suggesting that to include ‘In the name of God.’ Many were opposed to this suggestion – it was noted that it was unfortunate to put ‘God’ on vote. One member believed that inclusion of ‘God’ would amount to ‘compulsion of faith’ and violate the fundamental right to freedom of faith. Another proposal was made to include Gandhi’s name in the Preamble. A member was discontent with the already adopted draft articles as he felt that the Indian constitution was based on the American Supreme Court cases and Government of India Act. opposed association of Gandhi with the ‘rotten Constitution.[2]
At last on 26 November 1949, it was adopted by the Constitution Assembly which is now remarked as a Constitutional day from 2015.
Commencement of the Preamble:-
As we know Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949, but it comes into force on 26 Jan 1950 that took a time of 2 months because India wants to commemorate this day as a Purna Swaraj which took place on 26 Jan 1930 to remove the dominion status which was given by the British rule, and called itself a fully independent state. One more reason behind this delay was that the Constitution is written in Hindi language only so they want to translate it in English language too. Therefore, 26 January 1950 is celebrated as the Republic Day of India.
Footnotes:
[1] https://www.google.com/amp/s/indianexpress.com/article/explained/indian-constitution-preamble-citizenship-amendment-act-caa-protests-br-ambedkar-6190828/lite/
[2] https://www.constitutionofindia.net/constitution_of_india/preamble
References:
[a]https://www.google.com/amp/s/indianexpress.co
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[b]https://www.constitutionofindia.ne
[c] https://www.google.com/amp/s/inshorts.co m
Author- Jaishree Gautam BACL (NAGPUR)