Vol. 14, Part II · pages 371–375

1151 DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL Speaking three days ago on the floor of this House, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee described in very moving terms the immemorial beauty and wisdom of the teachings of Hinduism. He spoke of its comparable flexibility—I think he used the word adaptability—that had enabled Hindu philosophy to survive through centuries of foreign invasion and alien domination resisting wave after wave of the fiercest political and religious and economic onslaught. Surely, for all time to come Dr. Mookerjee has given the final answer to the futile and foolish argument that any social legislation intended to render justice to the under-privileged can imperil an ancient religion based on the loftiest conceptions of the sanctity and indivisible unity of all life. Another serious charge which is sought to be levelled against this Bill is that by making legal provisions for divorce it will open wide the flood gates of immorality. It has been proved conclusively by speaker after speaker that there was provision for divorce even in ancient times. We are all aware that more than 75 per cent, of the Hindus in this country have always had the benefit of an easy and simple and effective system of divorce. So, this argument seems to lack any real validity and I think it has been employed merely to indulge in what is fast becoming a national pastime in this country that of disparaging the West and western ways. May I be permitted to express my regret at the growing 325 PSD. tendency in this country to make sweeping generalisations about the morals and manners of other races in other countries ? This tendency is all the more deplorable because only too often hasty judgement is founded on insufficient knowledge, usually gleaned from the sensational publicity given to the doings of a handful of neurotics and decadents such as are to be found in every country of the world. Certainly, they are to be found in every big city of India. Dr. Mookerjee rightly drew our attention to a grave problem that is today troubling the psychologists of the West and that is the growing prevalence of psychoses corresponding to rise in the rate of divorce. But may I respectfully suggest to Dr. Mookerjee that if he would pause and ponder over this problem and analyse it carefully he will find that the psychoses are not the result but the root cause of much of the divorce in the West. In many western countries, particularly those that have been ravaged by the last two great World Wars, the entire equilibrium of life has been seriously disturbed. Acute economic distress, and a morbid obsession with the atom bomb and the imminence of another World War—all these cause

1152 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES tensions that lead to both physical and mental insecurity. These inevitably result in a certain emotional instability which must of necessity have its repercussions on family life. But the fact remains that whatever may be the abnormal conditions in some countries, whatever may be the outward variations of morals and manners in different races, fundamentally the human race is the same everywhere and even today in every Country of the world the family unit continues to be the very core of human society. Normally balanced men and women value a certain grace and dignity in human relationships and they do not resort to divorce light-heartedly. It is only when they are driven to it as the only ultimate solution of a situation that has become intolerable that they resort to divorce. And if this be true of men, it is I think, a hundralfold more true of women. Because in this changing and unstable world, devastated by wars and revolutions and famines, where all standards of ethical values are wavering, where all national and international codes of morality are vacillating, there still remains one thing changeless and unchanging—one thing that is still today what it was at the dawn of creation and what it will be at the end of time. And that is woman’s inherent consciousness of the grave responsibility that rests on her through her high destiny as the creator and guardian of the sacred flame of life. And perhaps in no other country of the world has that consciousness flowered in such perfection of beauty as in this ancient land of ours whose annals are rich with literature and legend inspired by the high ideals of our women. So, it is a little unworthy of us that we should talk lightly and flippantly about the capacity of the Indian woman to wear her freedom with dignity. To do so is to confess to a sad lack of understanding of the very genius of our race. Some resentment has been expressed by hon. Members who have objected to the theory that this Bill should be passed merely bcause the eyes of foreign countries are upon us. I am in entire agreement with them. However much we may value the goodwill of other countries we cannot and will not shape our lives and legislation to suit anybody else’s standards. But there is a far more valid and urgent reason for the passing of this Bill, and that is that our national integrity, our self-respect as people are at stake. Many of the Hon. Members of this House had the high privilege of drafting the Constitution of Free India. Upon them there rests the heavy responsibility of redeeming the pledges that are embodied in it and so the question of accepting or rejecting this Bill is the simple one of whether we affirm or deny the very fundamental principles on which our Constitution is based.

1153 DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL *Shri Brajeshwar Prasad (Bihar) : I rise to offer my unqualified support to clause 2 of the Hindu Code Bill. While doing so, I would like to point out that if this clause is passed it will mean the perpetuation of a great wrong in Hindu society—the immoral distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children. The clause says that it applies to any child, legitimate or illegitimate. I know that it is not possible for the State to go to the extent to which I want the Government of India to go. I want the State to abolish the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children. The stigma of illegitimacy dwarfs the personality of the child. It is inhuman and barbarous that millions of people in this country should suffer from psychological and social handicaps thorughout their lives for no fault of their own. It may be urged that the institution of marriage will be weakened if the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children is obliterated. I submit that the Heavens will not fall if the institutuon of marriage is weakened in any way whatsoever. Pandit Maitra (West Bengal) : Does the hon. Member want abolition of marriage ? An hon. Member : No week-end marriage. Shri Brajeshwar Prasad : The good that is done to society by marriage is great, but the harm that is done to society by illegitimacy is also very great and serious. I think that it is neither possible nor desirable for the State to strengthen the foundations of a discredited social order. I can very well conceive of a society where there is no marriage. The Platonic ideal of a community of wives and children is as valid a concept today as it was during the days of Plato. If we are sincere about our professions of secularism if we have any faith in secularism—let us be frank with ourselves—we must try to emancipate the institutions of property and marriage from the bondage of religion. It is true that the secular ideal has not been realised in any part of the world. It is not secularism but Christianity that guides the institutions of marriage and property both in America and Europe. I am of opinion that the institution of marriage will not be weakened in any way if the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children is obliterated ... Mr. Chairman : I think the hon. Member may reserve these views to the marriage Chapter. * P.D., Vol. XV, Part II, 20th September 1951, pp. 2933-35.

1154 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Shri Brajeshwar Prasad : I am not expressing my views on the marriage Chapter. I am only visualising certain objections that may be raised with regard to my suggeston that the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children should be obliterated. Shri T. Hussain (Bihar) : For the sake of information, may I know if my hon. friend is against legal marriage or not ? Shri Brajeshwar Prasad : If I get an opportunity to speak on the marriage clauses, I am prepared to make the distinction clear. I do not think that the institution of marriage will be weakened if the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children is obliterated. For, what is the basis of marriage ? Why is the institution of marriage surviving ? It is old age—psychlogical enfeeblement of the mind and heart—which is responsible for the survival of the institution of marriage. It is not for the pleasures of sex ; it is not for the procreation of children that the institution of marriage exists in society. For, both these objectives can be achieved outside the bonds of matrimony. I am opposed to illegitimacy because it is an important cause of abortion, destitution, prostitution, delinquency, further illegitimacy, premature birth, still-birth, crimes, infanticide, veneral disease and cruelty to women and children. I am not prepared to give my moral support to an article which tends to perpetuate the gravest crime that is done in our society. *Shri B. Das (Orissa) : At the outset I wish to congratulate Dr. Ambedkar on behalf of myself and all those reformists who are Members of this House and reformists outside for the bold step he has taken to codify the Hindu Law. He has shown great forbearance. He has been characterised as the Manu of our age. But he has been following the precepts of Buddha and showing greater forbearance in agreeing that only the Chapters relating to marriage and divorce be taken for the time being. I support the marriage and divorce clauses of this Code. Great speeches have been made on the floor of the House. On the side of the Bill my hon. Friend Shri Gadgil made an excellent speech ; so also Pandit Kunzru. On the opposite side the speeches that have to be taken notice of are the ones of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Sardar Man and my young friend Pandit Govind Malaviya. Dr. Mookerjee perhaps forgot the fact that the intermediate stage in the line of reformists from Buddha to Gandhiji was held by great P.D., Vol. XV, Part II, 20th September 1951, pp. 2935-37.

1155 DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL Bengalis like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Keshab Chander Sen and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. It is no good for the Bengali leader to cry a halt to these reforms. That is not the rigth way. Hinduism has been a progressive religion. The various Smritis and Mimamsa, are but a codification of Hindu law. As pointed out by my friend Shrimati Padmaja Naidu, who in her ineivitable poetic way paid happy compliments to Dr. Ambedkar, our Constitution has given certain rights to women of India and Dr. Ambedkar is doing nothing more than giving effect to the intentions of the Constitution. My hon. friend Sardar Man belongs to a great nation, the fighting nation that has saved and maintained the freedom of India. He however struck a discordant note by saying that the Sikhs are not Hindus. I had the privilege of working with many Sikh leaders. Let us, therefore, not harp on our differences on the Hindu Code Bill. But I may say that if the Sikh opinion is sounded, now or hereafter, they would never like to remain stagnant. If and when such opinions are taken, we will find that Sikh women are for progress and advance. As regards Pandit Govind Malaviya, I have great affection for him, because I was a lieutenant of his revered and august father, the late Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya. My memory goes back to the thirties when we were passing the Child Marriage Restraint Act on the floor of the House. The great seer that Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya was, he saw the signs of the times and although he was sad that this House enacted the Child Marriage Restraint Act known as the Sarda Act, he never opposed it in such violent language and in such words of thunder as my young friend Pandit Govind Malaviya did. Pandit Malaviya : Because these things were not proposed then. Shri B. Das : True. But I was only quoting my own leader and his august father that he was for advancement and progress. That is all that I wanted to submit. Shir A. C. Shukla (Madhya Pradesh) : For those who are weak, you cannot follow the highest ideal? Shri B. Das : Those who belong to the orthodox and conservative school in India have helped us in passing the Constitution. They have helped us, though at times a little weakly, in the battle for freedom that we fought for so many years. Since 1947 we are all going forward. If “go forward” is our motto now, then nothing will stop the .advancement and progress of India or any section of our community, be it Hindu, Muslim or any other. Therefore, instead of showing that