Vol. 14, Part II · pages 361–365

1141 DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL the State, without the authority of the police, without the authority of any legislature as such. There has been no governmental sanction behind the laws which have been in force. The laws were promulgated by men who had attained to perfection as nearly as man could, who were held in universal respect, who worked for the good of the people. And there was the sanction of what has been called in the Shastras, Apoorva, the unseen, that which will happen under certain circumstances ; the thought that what one was doing today would have effect later on ; that the human soul, the jeeva does not lead one life alone, but goes through a chain of births; that the actions of one life are inter-related to the actions and results of previous and future lives ; that deeds of virtue and piety and righteousness bring a reward which is greater in reality than any reward of comfort or convenience which one may have in this life. A clear conception of the real value of things as distinguished from the ephemeral aspect, was always kept in mind, it is under the force of that sanction and that belief that the laws which were promulgated have always been followed. In the whole of this country, throughout its length and breadth, the law of the Hindus has been observed not because any one—for instance my esteemed friend Kaka Saheb Gadgil who is coming into the House and who talked on this Code, not like the elderly responsible man that we know him to be, but like a gay youngster who just utters what comes at that moment in the mouth, or any one else—found them to be comfortable or otherwise, found them to be pleasant or irksome, but because both Kaka Saheb and Govind Malaviya and the other 300 millions like them have been steeped in the conviction and belief that what they are doing today will have repercussions hereafter, that what they go through now will bring its own reward. They have been all bred up to believe that it is not Preya alone which matters in life, but that it is the Shreya of things which must be assiduously inculcated. That has been the shape of things in this country and in this society. Let not the Government make a thoughtless and hasty mistake in demolishing that fabric upon which the respect for and the adherence to the law has prevailed. If one set of legislators, one set of wise men or wiseacres today legislate in one particular manner as they think fit, people will have ceased to worry about Apoorva. People will know that it is possible for them the next day to get a law made to suit their pleasure and their convenience. The moral fabric will disappear and man might go back to the old age where there

1142 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES was no method or system of marriages, where a state of things prevailed which probably, in decent society, would not be considered worth mentioning. That is the stake which is involved. I should have liked to have dealt with the question of divorce ; I should have, liked to have dealt with the question of widow remarriage; I should have liked to have dealt with the question of inter-caste marriage; I should have liked to have dealt with the question of monogamy. I hope I will have opportunities as these clauses come up to deal with each one of these at the appropriate time. It is not for reasons of orthodoxy alone that this question must be considered. It is from the point of view of the over all interest and well-being of society that we should tackle these problems. I said society. Society means the whole group of people, all the inhabitants taken together. It is formed of the units, of the individuals. But, the unit and the whole, even though they are inseparably interdependent, have their own separate entity also. The body is made up of all the limbs. But, the hand has its own existence by itself; the head has its own. The body as a whole cannot be by itself without the hands, feet, legs and the head. [Shrimati durgaBai in the Chair ] But, the body is not merely the hand or the feet or the head. It is the sum total of the whole. When, therefore, we have to think of society, we have to think of the good and interest of society as a whole and if any thing is in the interest and well-being of all, then, whether it is pleasant or whether it is a little less pleasant for one individual here or one individual there, that must be adopted. When these topics come up, I hope I shall have opportunities to deal with them. I wished to say a great deal to bring out in clear perspective the issues involved, the fallacy or correctness of the approach made, and the conclusion to which we must irresistibly be driven. And right now, Madam, I should have had another advantage, that one esteemed Member of this House, in the very nature of things, being in the Chair, is now bound to be as fair to me as anybody else. But I said that I shall not take more time, and shall respect the wishes and the decisions of the esteemed Leader of this House. I will therefore close my speech, and close it with the earnest appeal that a matter of this seriousness, affecting the life of 300 million human beings should be considered as carefully and in as great a detail as may be humanly possible. There is only one formal thing which I must do now and that is to move

1143 DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL the amendments of which I had given notice three days ago. I beg to move : (i) In part (a) of sub-clause (1) of clause 2, after “including” insert “Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs”. (ii) Omit part (b) of sub-clause (1) of clause 2. After the first amendment, the clause will read as follows : “to all Hindus, that is to say, to all persons professing the Hindu religion in any of its forms or developments, including Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Virashaivas or Lingayats and member of the Brahmo, the Prarthana etc. etc.” I have moved this amendment for a simple reason. I hope and pray that I am a devout Hindu—I do not know if I can make that claim— and Dr. Ambedkar: After such a speech who else can make that claim ? Pandit Malaviya : And in the Sankalpa which we perform on all occasions, we say Bauddhavatare. If only I had the time, I would have tried to show that Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism etc., while they have their own independent place and position, cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be treated as outside the pale of Hinduism. That does not mean that Hinduism lays any claim upon them or wishes in any way to restrict their complete independence and separate existence. It is not that. I am talking of the historical relation. They have all sprung out of it and have always formed part of it. Even in their religious books and procedure, even in their daily practices and daily life, there are any number of points of identical similarity which still persist. In this land there should be no need, therefore, to show them separately. My amendment does not make any difference in the result. The clause instead of coming as a separate clause comes within the previous one. I have now only to make an appeal to the Members of this House to view this matter dispassionately. As I said, I do not deny that there are some people who feel that it will be good for society if such a law is enacted. My appeal to them is to proceed in the right manner about it. Sometime ago there was the Inter-caste Marriage Act which was passed, making inter-caste marriages among Arya Samajists valid. At that very time Dr. Bhagwan Dasji, that great learned scholar and devotee of Manu, brought before the then Central Assembly, a Bill

1144 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES for the application of that clause to the whole body of Hindus. That Bill was not proceeded with, and after long and careful discussion it was dropped. Inter-caste marriages among Arya Samajists had gone on for some decades and they had carried on their movement for a long time and when the same had become common and the time came the measure was adopted. Let us take a leaf out of that book. If social reforms have to be made, nobody can object to them, if all those who are concerned should desire to have them. Let us, therefore, adopt that course, if for nothing else, so that what you do may not remain a mere dead letter on paper without any effect whatsoever. It has also been pointed out that because now we are only taking up the parts of the Code relating to marriage and divorce, we should consider the feasibility of making an All-India All-Community Code towards that end. I am not one of those whose argument is that if monogamy is good and is to be enforced for the Hindus, it should necessarily apply to everybody. I do not say that at all. If monogamy is good, then I want it for the Hindus whether it is applied to anybody else or not. I do not want to argue that if the rule of monogamy is good for the Hindus it should not come to them unless it comes for everybody else. That is for the others to decide and if they do not want it, let them not have it but if it is good for the Hindus let it come to them. ( An hon. Member: Is it good ?) It is good and I think it is the only good thing ; but that, however, does not mean that we should become blind to the requirements of a good thing in itself or that we should not take other relevant facts and aspects into consideration. So far as the principle of monogamy goes I have no objection to it, Nobody can have any objection to it, and I should be unhappy if anything except monogamy is found in practice anywhere... Giani G. S. Musafir (Punjab) : There is no harm in asking for all a thing which is good in itself. Pandit Malaviya : I do not say that it should not apply to every body ; it is for the Government and for the others to think about the others. They have now brought forward a restricted measure dealing with only marriage and divorce and if they think that it is right to apply it to the whole country, let them do it. That is another consideration which the Government should certainly take into account. Shri Bhatt (Bombay) : But can we Members not ask the Government that we wish it should be made applicable to all ?

1145 DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL Pandit Malaviya: Certainly. Many people have said it. Giani G. S. Musaflr: I think it is our duty to ask for it. Pandit Malaviya: It is an important point which, I hope, the Government will consider. Mr. Chairman : May I ask the hon. Member if he does not consider it desirable that we should practise it before we preach to the others and would we not then have a better or stronger case ? Pandit Malaviya: Madam, I do not want to be so impertinent as to argue with the Chair. I will only close now by repeating my appeal that Members of this House will rise to the requirements of the position of responsibility which they occupy and will deal with this measure with that sense of gravity which it deserves, so that the immemorial and hoary traditions and foundations of the life of the Hindu community may not be tampered with or destroyed in a lighthearted or profane manner. Shri Jajoo (Madhya Bharat) : Madam, the question be now put. (Interruptions). Babu Ramnarayan Singh (Bihar): I want to speak, Madam. Mr. Chairman : I am not deciding the issue myself. I will leave it to the House. May I know what time the hon. Law Minister will take for his reply ? Dr. Ambedkar: In view of the long speeches and the varied arguments advanced I would take about one and a quarter hours : possibly I might take even more, I do not know. Chairman : If half an hour is taken for the amendments and the Law Minister is going to take one and a quarter hours for his reply we will have to conclude the debate by 11-30. Meanwhile if hon. Members are contented to confine their speeches to ten minutes, so that more hon. Members will be able to take part in the debate, I would like to conclude the debate precisely at 11-30. Shri Naziruddin Ahmad (West Bengal) : It was decided that the amendments will not be put to the House at all. Pandit Malaviya : The Deputy Speaker said that he would call upon the Law Minster at 11-30. But since we have the time, other Members may be given an opportunity to speak and if you do not think it necessary, the rule about ten minutes may not be laid down.