Why B R Ambedkar opposed the move to add ‘socialist’ to Constitution, was silent on ‘secular’

While there has been some debate in recent times about whether “socialist’ and “secular” should be removed from the Preamble to the Constitution, the Constituent Assembly itself saw a brief discussion on an amendment moved by K T Shah to add the two words to Article 1. The chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution, Dr B R Ambedkar, who passed away on December 6 exactly 69 years ago, found the amendment “superfluous” and opposed it. The amendment was ultimately rejected.

Shah, a socialist and a trained economist, moved the amendment to Article 1 on November 15, 1948, suggesting that it read, “India shall be a Secular, Federal, Socialist Union of States.” He wanted the words “secular”, “federal”, and “socialist” added to Article 1, “owing to the arrangements by which the Preamb