346 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
friend Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad. Before you call upon Dr. Ambedkar to reply, may I request him, in case he holds that amendment No.
177 should be rejected, to give us some reasons for his opposition and not merely repeat the trite formula ‘I oppose this amendment’ ?......
......In conclusion I repeat my request to Dr. Ambedkar not to merely repeat the formula ‘I oppose’, but give reasons as to why he does so.
Shri Rohini Kumar Chaudhari : I have come to the rostrum to honour my friend Mr. Naziruddin Ahmed by opposing this amendment ( Laughter ).......
*The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Mr. Vice-President, Sir, I did not think that this was a matter which required any speech from me, but as Mr. Kamath has expressed a desire that I must not merely negative the amendment but should offer an explanation as to why I was not prepared to accept the amendments suggested by my Honourable Friend, Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad, I have come here to make my explanation. I think it will be agreed that in mailers of this sort, which relate merely to phraseology and not to the substance of the article itself, it cannot be staled that it is a matter of principle at all. It is a mere matter of precedent how different Constitutions have used language in matters which are analogous. My submission is that in the language we have used we are absolutely covered by precedent with regard to the question of repeating the phrase “of this Constitution”. My friend, Mr. Kamath, stated that he has examined several constitutions such as that of Australia and of some other countries but did not find this phrase “of this Constitution” contained therein. I am sorry that he did not extend his researches to the Irish Constitution. If he had, he would have found that the phraseology used in the Draft Constitution is the same as is used in the Irish Constitution. For his reference, I would like to draw his attention to Article 19 of the Irish Constitution, article 27, sub-clause
(4), article 32 and article 46, sub-clause (5) where he will find that, wherever the word “article” occurs, it is followed by the phrase “of this Constitution”.
I may also point out to Mr. Kamath that in this respect we have also followed the phraseology contained in the Government of India Act
- I am sorry I have not had the time to examine all the sections of the Government of India Act but I have just, fortunately for myself, found one section which is 142-A where similar phraseology has been
*CAD, (Official Report). Vol. VII. 18th November 1948. pp. 467-68.