332 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
friend will forgive me, I think he is in the habit of moving all sorts of amendments, asking for a comma here, no commas there and so on and I think we must put a stop to this sort of thing in the very beginning.
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : On the very threshold of independence, if I am to be stopped like this, I shall bow down and submit to the decision of the Chair.
Mr. Vice-President: What is your reply to the point of order?
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : My reply to the point of order raised is this, I want to remove the word “The” from the article and therefore it is an amendment. This is certainly a drafting amendment. It may be opposed on the ground that it is insignificant, illogical or purposeless or useless and so forth. But Dr. Ambedkar is not right in asserting that it is not an amendment at all. It cannot be ruled out on the technical ground that it is not an amendment.
And with regard to my Honourable Friend’s remarks as to my habit of moving amendments like punctuations and other changes, I am happy to inform him and the House that I have ceased to follow that habit so far as this amendment is concerned, ( Laughter ).
Mr. Vice-President: You say it is a drafting amendment. Can’t we leave it to the Drafting Committee and its Chairman for seeing to it at the third reading ? I am sure they will accept these amendments if there is any substance in them.
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad: In that case, it would be leaving the matter to the Drafting Committee, instead of leaving it to the judgment of the House. The spokesman of the Drafting Committee has already given out his mind. Therefore, if I were to agree to leave it to the Drafting Committee, it would be as good as withdrawing it. Therefore, I have to submit, again, that the word “The” is not part of the name.
Mr. Vice-President : I am waiting to hear Dr. Ambedkar on this point.
The Honourable Dr. H. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I do not know why the Honourable Member objects to the word ‘the’. ‘The’ is a definite article, and it is quite necessary, because we are referring to the States in the Schedule. We are not referring to States in general, but to certain specific Stales which are mentioned in the Schedule. Therefore the definite article ‘the’ is necessary. It refers to the definite States included in the Schedule.
Secondly. I would like to submit this, that it would be wrong—and I speak about myself—for any Indian to presume such precise command aver the English language as to insist in a dogmatic manner that a