DRAFT CONSTITUTION 331
Sir, I submit these are three alternatives. I would prefer the first but it all depends on the House as to what it thinks about them.
[After Mr. Kamath’s criticism on the Amendment, Dr. Ambedkar rose to reply,]
* * * * *
*The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Sir, I oppose all these amendments. With regard to the first amendment that India should be known as the United States of India, the argument set out by my friend Mr. Kamath is a perfectly valid argument and I accept it wholeheartedly. I have given my own views as to why I used the word ‘Union’ and did not use the word ‘Federation’.
With regard to the other amendment that India should be known as the Union of India, I also say that this is unnecessary, because we have all along meant that this country should be known as India, without giving any indication as to what are the relations of the component parts of the Indian Union in the very title of the name of the country. India has been known as India throughout history and throughout all these past years. As a member of the U.N.O. the name of the country is India and all agreements are signed as such and personally I think the name of the country should not in any sense give any indication as to what are the subordinate divisions it is composed of. I therefore oppose the amendments and maintain that the Draft as it is presented to the House is the best so far as these amendments are concerned.
Mr. Vice-President: I shall now put the amendments one by one to the vote.
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendments.
The amendments were, by leave of the Assembly, withdrawn.
Mr. Vice-President: Amendment No. 113.
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : I am not moving 113.
But I am moving 114. Sir, I beg to move:
“That in clause (2) of Article 1, the word ‘ The’ occurring at the beginning be deleted.”
†The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I raise a point of order. My point of order is that this is not an amendment. Unless it changes the substance of the original proposition, it is not an amendment. I am trying to find out the reference in May’s Parliamentary Practice. But I would like to raise this point at this moment. If my
*CAD, (Official Report). Vol. VII, 15th November 1948. p. 422.
† Ibid., pp. 422-24.