Preamble Is The Idea Of India’s Long Cherished Dream

Imagine reading a beautifully written book without an introduction or preface or say without an Index, obviously it would create a mess or ambiguity in the mind of a reader who would pick up that book for the first time. Similarly, the Preamble to a Constitution embodies the fundamental values and the philosophy, on which the Constitution is based, and the aims and objectives, which the founding fathers of the Constitution enjoined the polity to strive to achieve. The importance and utility of the Preamble has been pointed out in several decisions of the Supreme Court of India.

The preamble to an Act sets out the main objectives which the legislation is intended to achieve. It is a sort of introduction to the statute and many a times very helpful to understand the policy and legislative intent. It expresses “what we had thought or dreamt for so long”. It embodies in a solemn form all the ideas and aspirations for which the country had struggled during the British Regime.

Preamble being unenforceable in the court of law, but it successfully brings out and states the objects which Constitution seeks to establish and promote and also aids the legal interpretation wherever ambiguousness tend to appear.

Combining the ideals of political, social and economic democracy with that of equality and fraternity, the Preamble seeks to establish what Mahatma Gandhi described as The India of my dreams, namely –

“An India, in which the poorest shall feel that it is their country in whose making an effective voice? An India in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony”.

The preamble serves the following points: –

1) It indicates the sources from where the constitution has come viz. the people of India.

2) It contains the enacting clause which brings into force the constitution.

3) It declares the freedoms which the people of India intended to secure it all citizens and the basic type of government and polity which was to be established.

So, The Preamble is an integral part of the Constitution of India. It reflects the legislative intent of the makers of the Constitution. It assists in broadening the horizons of the provisions of the Constitution. It is not a conventional addition but an addition with the utmost value and importance of polity which India as a social welfare state strives to establish. The Preamble is a law of paramount nature of our country. It highlights the values, guiding principles and objectivity on which the Indian Constitution is based. So we can say that preamble is the idea of long cherished dream of India.