Mr. Vice-President, Sir, this is a simple clause relating to the oath to be taken by the President. Sir, I am a firm believer in the existence of God and also in religion but I must say, Sir, that it will not be proper to insert the word ‘God’ in our Constitution simply because we invoke the blessings of God. God is everywhere if you really believe in Him. God is here in this House. He is omnipresent. If you really believe in the existence of God, it is no use merely putting it in the Constitution and taking consolation from it. There is no use the President taking his oath in the name of God and then do something quite contrary to the teaching of God. There is another factor to which I object; I do not share the view of my Friend, Mr. Karimuddin that in a secular State the word ‘God’ cannot come in. A secular State does not mean that an individual cannot believe in God. That theory is certainly not tenable to any reasonable man, but I do believe, Sir, that day in and day out, we do say that religion shall have nothing to do with our Constitution, and that religion is our private concern. I certainly believe in God and I think religion is my own business. It is nobody’s business to tell me in what respect and in what method you believe in God and you approach your religion. In India, we feel that God is a symbol of religion; and in the name of religion, we know, Sir, how disastrous things are happening in this country; each community believes in God in his own way. The belief of the Hindus is quite different, that of the Muslims in quite different and so also that of the Parsis and the Christians. I, therefore, do not want that our Constitution should in any way be marred by the word “religion”, but if my friends have a consolation in bringing in God, and that is to their satisfaction, let them have it. I only want to say, Sir, that it would have been better if the word ‘God’ and the religious point of view were avoided. What I would really have preferred is that the public should have been remembered by the President, when he takes the oath. He should have stated that in the presence of the people……
