404 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Shri H. V. Kamath : A very handy argument.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : It is because the British Government had refused to allow Indians to bear arms, not on the ground of peace and order, but on the ground that a subject people should not have the right to bear arms against an alien government so that they could organise themselves to overthrow the Government, and consequently the basic considerations on which these resolutions were passed in my judgment have vanished. Under the present circumstances, I personally myself cannot conceive how it would be possible for the State to carry on its administration if every individual had the right to go into the market and purchase all sorts of instruments of attack without any let or hindrance from the State.
Shri H. V. Kamath : On a point of clarification, Sir, the proviso is there restricting that right.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : The proviso does what ? What does the proviso say ? What the proviso can do is to regulate, and the term ‘regulation’ has been judicially interpreted as prescribing the conditions, but the conditions can never be such as to completely abrogate the right of the citizen to bear arms. Therefore regulation by itself will not prevent a citizen who wants to exercise the right to bear arms from having them. I question very much the policy of giving all citizens indiscriminately any such fundamental right. For instance, if Mr. Kamath’s proposition was accepted, that every citizen should have the fundamental right to bear arms, it would be open for thousands and thousands of citizens who are today described as criminal tribes to bear arms. It would be open to all sorts of people who are habitual criminals to claim the right to possess arms. You cannot say that under the proviso a man shall not be entitled to bear arms because he belongs to a particular class.
Shri H. V. Kamath : If Dr. Ambedkar understands the proviso fully and clearly, he will sec that such will not be the effect of my amendment.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I cannot yield now. I have not got much time left. I am explaining the position that has been taken by the Drafting Committee. The point is that it is not possible to allow this indiscriminate right. On the other hand my submission is that so far as bearing of arms is concerned, what we ought to insist upon is not the right of an individual to bear arms but his duty to bear arms.