z:\ ambedkar\vol-02\vol2-09.indd MK SJ+DK 21-9-2013 689
EVIDENCE : MR. F. E. JAMES AND OTHERS 689
Do you accept the proposals laid down in the White Paper as the final form which the Constitution of India should take, or do you think there is some room for evolution further ?
Mr. F. E. James : I think the answer to that is to be found in paragraph
1 of the Memorandum.
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : That gives the answer, does it ?
Mr. F. E. James : That, I think, is the answer : “We consider the general scheme of the White Paper to be satisfactory as a whole and to form a reasonable basis on which to frame the future Constitution of India.”
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : My question, if I may say so, was some what different. My question is this : Do you regard these proposals as the final form of India’s political constitution ?
Mr. F. E. James : May I refer you to the third sub-paragraph of paragraph
1 of the Memorandum, in which you will find the following words : “The Council of the Association reserves the right to determine its final attitude to the constitutional scheme when the Report of the Joint Select Committee has been published and the Bill for the future Government of India based upon that Report is presented to Parliament.”
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Forgive me ; that, again, is not an answer to my question. My question is somewhat different. My question is this : Do you think that there is any more room for the advancement of the political status of India beyond the proposals as they are laid down in the White Paper ? Have I made myself clear ?
Mr. F. E. James : Yes. Obviously the White Paper leaves room for modification or changes in the future.
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I used the word “advancement” ?
Mr. F. E. James : If you call it advancement, possibly.
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I will not pursue that point ?
Mr. F. E. James : But we are now considering only the proposals of the White Paper.
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : In paragraph 52 you make the proposal that the Indian Legislatures should not have authority to effect the law of British Nationality, I quite follow that point. Then you go further on and say that it should not even have authority to prescribe what might be called Indian Nationality, on the analogy of the Canadian Act. I understand what you say. What I want to know is this. Do you want to put that as an absolute limitation which would prevent the Indian Legislature from constituting a status of an Indian National for any purpose whatsoever ?
Mr. F. E. James : No ; I think the paragraph is perfectly clear. We merely say that if India does desire to legislature in that way, India should not be permitted to do so to the exclusion of the European British Community in India.
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I put it this way : Supposing, for instance, a case arose which is similar to that which arose in Canada and which gave