CENTRE FOR PARLIAMENTARY STUDIES AND

TRAINING

PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY
Paper I

The Philosophy of the Preamble of the Indian

Constitution
 CONTENTS

Introduction

The Philosophy of the Preamble of the Indian Constitution

Conclusion

Bibliography
 INTRODUCTION

Every Constitution has a philosophy of its own, For the philosophy underlying
our Constitution we must reflect on the Preamble of the Constitution. And in order
to find the philosophy of the Preamble we must look into the minds of the framers
of the constitution. We’ll look into the various expressions contained in the
Preamble in order to find out what the constituent assembly members intended.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PREAMBLE OF THE INDIAN

CONSTITUTION

The Constitution of India begins with a Preamble which specifies the nature
of the Indian state and the objectives it is committed to secure. The case of I C
Golaknath and Kesavananda Bharti laid down some of the most crucial principles of
our Constitution. Preamble was made a part of our constitution and along with that
the apex court held that the constitution can be amended but only up to a certain limit
and that the basic structure of the constitution should not be changed while
amending.
In IC Golaknath’s case, the court emphasized on the principle of inclusivity
of judiciary in Judicial review. The Kesavananda Bharti’s case saved the
Constitution by upholding that Judicial review is the basic feature of the constitution.
Preamble is meant to be used as a key to the letter and spirit of the
Constitution. The preamble reads. “We the people of India having solemnly
resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic
Republic and to secure to all its citizens;
Justice, Social, Economic, Political; Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and
worship;
Equality of status and opportunity; and to promote among them all; Fraternity,
assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation;
In our Constituent Assembly, this twenty sixth day of November 1949, do hereby
Adopt Enact and Give to ourselves this constitution.”

The terms used in the Preamble symbolizes the philosophical ideology of the
framers of the Constitution, by looking into the words we can better understand what
they intended. ‘We, the people of India’ this phrase in our preamble was added to
symbolize that it is us that give the law power and it is us that make these laws to
govern us. The words Sovereign, Democratic and Republic were used denote the
essential feature that the constitution stood for and what the country shall strive for.
Later on, words like Socialist and Secular were added, these words are the basic
feature of the basic structure of the constitution.
The Preamble is used as a law as well as a guide to look at the Constitution.
The Preamble aims to ensure Distributive Justice for all. The concept of Equality in
our preamble is against discrimination. But positive discrimination can exist and the
framers placed such an exception to the principle of equality for the weaker section
of the society.
The Preamble of our Constitution is the backbone of our country. It is the
conscience of the nation.
In re Berubari Union and Golaknath were overruled in Kesavananda Bharti’s case
stating that preamble is an integral part of the constitution.
The words Justice, equality, sovereignty, secularity, etc. mentioned in the
preamble ensures that the country would make laws in accordance with the
constitution and all laws which is against the Constitution of India is void ab initio.
Justice: Indian Constitution seeks to secure Justice-social, economic and political
for all citizens. One of the key ideals of the National liberation movement was to
secure a new social order based on socio-economic-politico justice.
Social Justice means the absence of discrimination in the society on the ground of
sex, caste, creed, colour, religion and place of birth.
Economic Justice means no discrimination between man and man on the basis of
income, wealth and economic values. It involves the concept of equitable
distribution of wealth.
Political Justice means equal, free and fair opportunities for all the people for
participation in the political process. The Constitution provides for a liberal
democratic political system in which all the people have the right to elect their
representatives and the right to hold public offices.
Liberty: The Preamble declares liberty to be the second cardinal objective to be
secured by the Indian state. It lists liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and
worship as the objective to be secured for all the people. Liberty as such is another
cardinal objective of the constitution expressed through the preamble. The
Constitution grants and guarantees the liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith
and worship.
Equality: The Preamble by realizing the importance of equality and the
interrelationship between liberty and equality makes equality the Preamble makes
equality the third major objective of the Constitution. Equality enshrined in the
Preamble means the equality of status and equality of opportunity. The Indian
Constitution grants and guarantees the fundamental Right of Equality to all.
Fraternity: The Preamble clearly states that another major objective is to promote
among all the people-fraternity a feeling of spiritual and psychological unity. It is
designed to secure dignity of the individual and unity and integrity of the nation.
The founding fathers of the constitution, therefore, specified in the preamble that
free India should promote Fraternity assuring human dignity as well as unity and
integrity of the nation.

CONCLUSION

The Preamble states the philosophical foundation of the Constitution of India

and enumerates its objectives. The preamble is in fact, a key to the interpretation of
the Constitution. It is a basic structure of the Constitution in so far as it states the
philosophy, the ideals and the objectives of the Constitution. It is through the
Preamble that the Constitution of India commits itself to a social revolution. The
Preamble states the values which the constitution is committed to secure.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reference
1. Dr. C.S Somashek Harappa’s Research Paper, The Uniqueness of Preamble
of Indian Constitution, Paripex – Indian Journal of Research, Vol.5, Issue:10,
Oct 2016
2. http://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/38189/1/Unit-5.pdf, last
accessed on 15-01-2019 at 09.00pm
3. Basu, Durga Das, Shorter Constitution of India. Prentice-Hall of India, 1981

Submitted By,
Name: ABHIJITH AU
Enrollment No: 2018 05 03 025