The Constitution Reform Commission has proposed for inclusion of five fundamental principles -- equality, human dignity, social justice, pluralism, and democracy -- in the preamble of the constitution, and dropping the existing fundamental principles of nationalism, socialism, and secularism.
These five fundamental principles have been proposed for inclusion in the constitution and governance of Bangladesh reflecting the ideals of the great War of Independence of 1971 and Mass Uprising of 2024.
Regarding the proposal to drop three fundamental principles from the preamble of the constitution, the commission in its report said: "It is proposing for exclusion of secularism, socialism and nationalism from the constitution and govern the state. Hence, it is proposing to drop the Articles 8,9,10 and 12 from the constitution."
The Constitution Reform Commission, led by Professor Ali Riaz, submitted their report, containing the reform proposals, to the Chief Adviser at his office in Dhaka on Wednesday. Three more reform commissions also submitted their proposals on that day. The commissions are Election Reform Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission and Police Reform Commission.
While placing the report, Professor Ali Riaz narrated the summary of their report.
His commission also proposed inclusion of the provision for a referendum to amend the constitution.
The commission has recommended introducing a bicameral parliament to ensure representation for all, with a lower house (called the National Assembly) based on majority representation and an upper house (called the Senate) based on proportional representation.
At present, there are four fundamental principles in the constitution to govern Bangladesh. These are nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism. These four fundamental principles were approved for accommodating in the constitution written in 1972 following the independence of the country through the War of Liberation in 1971.
The interim government will now initiate talks with the country's political parties over the recommendations of the reform commissions. The reform proposals will be implemented on the basis of consensus through dialogues with the political parties.
It was told at a press briefing on Wednesday that the dialogues with political parties are likely to be held in February.
