Vol. 14, Part II · pages 221–225

1001 DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : Why force it on those who do not believe in it ? Dr. S. P. Mookerjee : If you believe that monogamy as a social system is the best that India should have, then, do not try to look at it through the Hindu door ; look at it through the human door and make it applicable to all. Behave like a secular State at least in this instance. Take courage in both hands and say that monogamy will be made applicable to all citizens of India. If you cannot do it, do not do it for one section alone. Here, we are living in days of statistics. We swear by stastics, either real or manufactured. I have been trying to get some information : I could not. I wanted to know how many people in India have been marrying a second time. Shri Himatsingka : Or, keeping two wives at the same time. Dr. S. P. Mookerjee : That is what I mean : marrying a second wife when the first is alive. The number is extremely small. It is really no problem. Already, on account of advanced views, society has adjusted itself and on account of economic conditions, general public censure etc., this system has gone out. Why make a parade of this that you are introducing a great reform and legislating for this ? If you accept it as a principle, apply it, as I said just now to the whole of India. So far as the Hindu Code Bill is concerned. I do not know what the decision is going to be. The Prime Minister has indicated that most likely we will not proceed with the rest of the Bill and time may not permit us to do so I am prepared to make this offer. Pass the entire Hindu Code as it is ; only make it optional. Those who want it can adopt it. I have spoken to representatives belonging to the extreme orthodox school of view ; I have argued with them. Although there are some amongst them who are against the passing of any such Bill whatsoever they also realise that just as they claim to think for themselves, others also must have the liberty to do so for themselves and for their future. That would be a splendid beginning. I am prepared to admit, however much there may be opposition to the Code, that this represents a marvellous piece of work on the part of Dr. Ambedkar and those who have been associated with him. I am quite prepared to admit that this is a most throny subject - and he has gone through the matter with as much ability as any one could have. For that, if he is prepared to accept an honorary degree to be conferred by Parliament, we are prepared to confer a degree on Dr. Ambedkar. But if you look upon it as a measure which has to be pushed down the throat of millions of Hindus who are opposed to it. I say that

1002 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES you will not be doing a service to the people of India. The only way in which you can proceed even at this late stage is this. Let us not quarrel amongst ourselves ; let us agree to differ on this fundamental issue. If you are prepared to point out that there are certain matters which are immediately anti-social, or corroding into the very life of Hindu society, let us agree to make such provisions compulsory if there are any. Othewise, this new great structure which you have prepared, keep it there for a few years and say that any one, whether a Hindu or not, any Indian citizen, who desires to accept it can make a declaration, and the provisions regarding marriage or divorce or property, whatever it is, will be applicable to such selectors. That would be the beginning of a great era. For after all, who is going to decide ultimately ? your elections are coming. You then go forward. As the Prime Minister has said, his sweeping wind will come and blow away all opponents and…. Shri Kamath: Whirlwind. Dr. S. P. Mookerjee : Yes, the whirlwind will come. Let the whirlwind come with regard to the provisions of the Hindu Code Bill. Let them go and convince the people and tell them that they are not forcing it on them. Let them say, “we give you the option. Here is a heaven we have created. Come into this heaven and attain moksha”. Go and explain to the people and if they feel that it is really such a heaven and not a dilli-ka-laddu they will come and take it, and take it with open hearts. There will be ample time. After all, Hindu civilisation has existed for thousands of years, in spite of on slaughts from various quarters, cultural, political and economic invasions and so on. We have survived all that and we are now a free country, and we propose to survive with a much more glorious future than we had attained in the past. But when you introduce social reforms in such a vast country as this, where opinions differ, where attitudes differ and where ideologies differ, then the only way in which you can do it is to go at a slow pace. I am not asking you to abandon principles which you believe to be true. I am not asking that for the time being. But please go and convince the people, the Hindu people who still claim to live under canons and codes which are in no way inferior to those existing in any other part of the world. Give them scope to choose for themselves. That is my appeal to the House and to Government and I hope that appeal will be heeded to.

1003 DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL *Shri B. K. P. Sinha : A cruel destiny always pits me against Dr. Mookerjee, one of the greatest orators in the House and in the country. Dr. Mookerjee and other opponents of this Bill have brought forward the suggestion. “Why not have a Civil Code ? Why not extend the scope of this Bill to cover all the castes and communities and religious groups in India ? ” And also they ask., “Why not leave it to the different states or different people to adopt the various provisions of this Bill ? ” The mover of the Bill has effectively replied to these criticisms. The opponents of the Bill have also referred to the clause in the Constitution regarding discrimination between different persons. It was their contention that in view of that clause, or in view of that arricle of the Constitution. If you have provisions in the Bill applicable only to one community, that will not be constitutionally valid. In that connection they also referred to certain decisions of some Bombay courts and Madras courts. But they were decisions of the lower courts and since then the Bombay High Court has pronounced that in the cases referred to there was no violation of the discrimination article in the Constitution and that in spite of that article we can have laws for the Hindu community, to the exclusion of other communities. Therefore, that point is settled. Then there is the question of leaving it to the different States or people to decide by referendum. What are the grounds on which they have advanced this argument ? They say that the provisions of the Bill conflict with the fundamental tenets of Hindu law, that they are revolutionary and that they bring about far-reaching changes in the law, and that these changes are not at all essential. These are the arguments advanced by them in support of their contention. Let me scan the provisions of the Bill and see what is the substance of their contention. I will for the present confine myself to the question of marriage and divorce, for that is the only chapter that is going to be discussed. Pandit M. B. Bhargava (Ajmer): Kindly confine yourself to clause 2. Shri B. K. P. Sinha : Yes. I confine myself to clause 2 and I will illustrate my statements only from marriage and divorce chapter. I will not go beyond that. What are the features of this chapter ? It has four features. One that it widens the scope within which one can have marriages. You can go beyond the particular sub-caste or group and *P.D., Vol. XV, Part II, 17th September 1951, pp 2723-32.

1004 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES still the marriage will not be illegal and the children will not be illegitimate. Secondly, this Bill restricts or narrows down the field of prohibition. There were many prohibitions. One could not go beyond certain castes. One could not have marriage within the same gotra or pravara and with certain relations which fell within certain degrees from the father and mother. This bill narrows these prohibitions. And then it introduces the principle of monogamy, and lastly it introduces the principle of divorce. First of all, there is this widening of the Field of marriage. Are the provisions of this measure really in conflict with the principles of Hindu Law and Hindu religion ? In my opinion they are not. Dr. Mookerjee said that this measure offends the orthodox people, that it offends their religious sentiments, their religious susceptibilities. I am not ashamed to admit that I consider myself as much an orthodox Hindu as anyone else. Have I not very often met Dr. Mookerjee on the banks of the Ganges when we went there for our bath. We have also often met in the temple of Lord Shiva at Banaras. Our orthodoxy is of the same character and of the same extent. Still I do not find anything in this Bill that wounds my religious feelings or susceptibilities. What was the pristine or original condition of Hindu society ? That we see in the texts of the Mahabharata and other scriptures. There were no caste distinctions then as they exist now. Then there were divisions according to the work. Shri Syamnandan Sahaya : Every man is a Shudra by birth. It is by the sacraments that he becomes a Brahmin. Shri B. K. P. Sinha : But due to certain adverse factors things changed. Well, I do not want to quote and prolong the discussion, otherwise I will be playing your game. Well, as I was saying, there were no distinctions as they exist now. Every Arya was free to marry any other Arya. You know that Anuloma and Pratiloma marriages were permitted by Hindu law. And in adopting the provisions of this measure. I am sure that we are reverting to the old order of things. But that old order was disturbed by certain unfortunate developments in the country. Pandit Malaviya : Will the hon. Member please elaborate that point a bit ? Shri B. K. P. Sinha : I have elaborated it sufficiently. We will have to talk for seven days if we are to give enough elaborations.

1005 DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL Pandit Malaviya : I want to learn. I want to understand things and what the hon. Member says. I want to know where Pratiloma marriages were allowed in India. Shri B. K. P. Sinha : You will find in any book on Hindu Laws that Anuloma and Pratiloma marriges were common. Mr. Deputy Speaker : Anuloma marriages were allowed and not Pratiloma marriages. Shri B. K. P. Sinha : It was not allowed. The children were known as chandalas but they formed a branch of the Hindu society. Mr. Deputy Speaker : All that has been settled by Acts of Parliament. Shri B. K. P. Sinha : There are so many Acts of Parliament in this regard such as the Special Marriage Act of 1872, the Hindu Marriage Validation Act of 1949 allowing marriages between Hindus, Sikhs and Jains and also between different castes and sub-castes then there is the Hindu Marriage (Removal of Disabilities) Act which allows marriage between sub-divisions of the same caste. So these Acts are there and they are of an all-India character and it is open to any Hindu to marry any other Hindu, Sikh or Jain. What we are doing here is simply reenacting the old laws. Dr. Mookerjee asked if the laws are there, why re-enact them here ? I would put it to him that if they are there what crime are we committing by re-enacting them in the Hindu Code ? Then I come to the second feature; restricting or narrowing the field of prohibition. Under the Hindu Marriage (Removal of Disabilities) Act, is it not true that Sagotra and Sapravara marriages are permitted and that nothing new is introduced in this Code ? This provision is already a part of the Hindu law. In the Hindu society it was only amongst the Brahmins, strictly speaking, that Sagotra marriage was taboo. To the Kshatrias and Vaishyas Gotra had a spiritual or religious significance only. Gotra did not mean to them that they were descended from the same ancestor. Only in the case of the Brahmins the sameness of Gotra meant that they were descended from the same ancestor. In the case of the Shudras Sagotra marriage was always permitted. Whether under the law as it was or as it is, we find that Sagotra marriages were legal and valid and that is only being incorporated in this Code. Another restriction introduced is that the field of prohibition is being narrowed, in the case of the father’s side to five and in the case of the mother’s side to three generations. So far as the Hindu law and the practice and customs prevalent in this country are concerned there is