Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam has moved the Supreme Court to intervene in a petition by former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy that seeks to delete “secular” and “socialist” from the Preamble of the Constitution.
Mr. Viswam, represented by advocate Sriram Parakkat, said the insertion of the words “socialist” and “secular” by the Constitution makers was with a clear intention to “keep Indian polity secular”.
The Communist Party of India leader said secularism and socialism were both inherent and basic to the Constitution.
Mr. Viswam buttressed his argument by referring to the nine-judge Bench judgment of the Supreme Court in the S.R. Bommai case, which had held that “secularism is one of the basic features of the Constitution”.
“While freedom of religion is guaranteed to all persons in India, from the point of view of the State, the religion, faith or belief of a person is immaterial. To the State, all are equal and are entitled to be treated equally. In matters of State, religion has no place. No political party can simultaneously be a religious party. Politics and religion cannot be mixed,” Mr. Viswam quoted from the Bommai verdict of 1994.
Political parties cannot be allowed to seek votes in the name of religion, he said.
Mr. Viswam said the principal aim of a socialist state was to eliminate inequality in income and status and standards of life.
“The basic framework of socialism is to provide a decent standard of life to the working people and especially provide security from cradle to grave,” he argued.
