The Constitution of India was secular even before the word was included in the Preamble. Comment. (Answer in 150 words)

- The Constitution of India was secular even before the word was included in the Preamble. Comment. (Answer in 150 words)
Introduction
The word secular entered the Preamble only through the 42nd Amendment in 1976, but the arrangement it names was built into the text of 1950. The amendment declared a character the Constitution already possessed.

Body
1. Equality clauses: Articles 14, 15(1), 16(2) and 29(2) forbid discrimination on grounds of religion in law, employment and state-aided education.
2. Religious freedom for all: Articles 25 to 28 guarantee conscience and propagation, bar taxes promoting any religion, and prohibit religious instruction in wholly state-funded institutions.
3. The decisive political act: abolishing separate electorates and adopting one general electoral roll under Article 325 removed religion from representation itself.
4. The Assembly's own view: K. T. Shah's amendment to insert secular into Article 1 was rejected because Ambedkar held the provisions already embodied it.
5. Judicial confirmation: S. R. Bommai (1994) held secularism part of the basic structure independently of the 1976 insertion, following Kesavananda Bharati (1973).

Conclusion
Indian secularism was never a wall of separation but what Rajeev Bhargava calls principled distance, permitting reform under Articles 17 and 25(2)(b). The 42nd Amendment only named it.