z:\ ambedkar\vol-02\vol2-10.indd MK SJ+YS 21-9-2013/YS-8-11-2013 753
EVIDENCE : RIGHT HON. SIR SAMUEL HOARE AND OTHERS 753
almost in terms.
- Sir Hubert Carr: It is not considered necessary to give the GovernorGeneral that power to prevent his responsibilities being threatened other than peace and tranquillity ?
Sir Findlater Stewart: No. He could, of course, refuse his assent to the Bill as passed by the House.
- Sir Hubert Carr: But he cannot stop the discussion ?
Sir Findlater Stewart: No.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: I would like to reserve my questions for the Secretary of State because they are questions of policy.
†7016. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Arising out of the questions that were put by Mr. Morgan Jones regarding the pledges, you stated that no responsible statesman in this country has bound himself to time and pace. Is that so ?
Sir Samuel Hoare : Yes.
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: But I think there is a general agreement that the ultimate goal of India’s Constitution is to be Dominion status ?
Sir Samuel Hoare: It has constantly been so stated.
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: So that on the question of the ultimate goal, there is really no dispute ?
Sir Samuel Hoare: That would be so, yes.
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Now what I want to ask you is this : In view of that, would you be prepared to put this in the Preamble to the Government of India’s Constitution that India would be Dominion status, leaving the question of the time and the pace to be determined by circumstances as they arise ?
Sir Samuel Hoare: I do not think here and now I would like to give a pledge as to What is or is not put in the Preamble of an Act of Parliament. I, myself, am prejudiced against Preamble of Acts of Parliament, for reasons good or bad, and I would rather say neither yes nor no to Dr. Ambedkar’s question. It is a point that ought to be considered by the Committee. I would not regard it as a question of principle, one way or the other; I think it is essentially a matter for discussion. Upon the face of it, I am against these general declarations in Preambles.
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: I want to say this, that this is not a point in dispute now, and, in view of the fact that it would have a reassuring effect on the Indian people, it would be desirable to have this embodied in the Preamble to the Government of India Act ?
Sir Samuel Hoare: We must take note of what Dr. Ambedkar has said upon the point.
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Now the next question that I propose to ask you is with regard to the date of the Federation : that in view of certain uncertain elements connected with the entry of the Princes into the Federation,
†Minutes of Evidence, Vol. II-B, 18th July 1933, pp. 797-805.