Can Preamble be amended without altering date, asks SC

• The Supreme Court recently probed whether the Preamble of the Indian Constitution could have been amended without altering the date of its adoption on November 26, 1949.

Background

• The Preamble underwent one amendment in December 1976, through the 42nd Constitutional Amendment, during the Emergency, by the Indira Gandhi government.
• This amendment introduced the terms 'socialist' and 'secular' and replaced the phrase 'unity of the nation' with 'unity and integrity of the nation'.
• Originally, the text of the Preamble declared India as a ‘sovereign, democratic republic’.

Legal Inquiry

• The Bench was hearing a petition filed to delete the words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ from the Preamble.
• The judges are questioning whether it would have been possible to modify the Preamble while keeping the original date of adoption intact.
• The Kesavananda Bharati case establishes the Preamble's amendability, provided it doesn't violate the Constitution's basic structure.
• The Supreme Court schedules further hearings on the matter for the week starting April 29, 2024.

Prelims Takeaway

• Preamble
• Kesavananda Bharati Case