Incorporating Ahimsa into India's constitutional morality

Abstract

At the first meeting of the Committee for the Commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi in May 2018, the Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik, suggested that the principle of ahimsa may be incorporated into the preamble of the Constitution of India (Patnaik 2019). Patnaik briefly elaborated his reasoning. He argued that poverty and social injustice too were forms of violence. Removal of such forms of violence through socio-economic development requires peace. In other words, progress requires peace or ahimsa. Patnaik concluded that the inclusion of ahimsa, which is a uniquely Indian concept, into the preamble of the Indian Constitution will be a genuine tribute to Gandhi while reminding Indians as well as others of the profound significance of this principle.