518 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
as well as on the part of the minority party that party quarrels should stop during the period of the emergency, that there shall be no party Government, so that Government may be able to meet an emergency—in that event, again, no such situation can be met except by a coalition Government and if a coalition Government takes the place, ex hypothesi the members of a minority party must be entitled to become members of the Cabinet. Therefore, I submit that on both these grounds this amendment is not a practicable amendment,
With regard to the educational qualification, notwithstanding what my friend Mr. Mahavir Tyagi has said on the question of literary qualification, when I asked him whether in view of the fact that he expressed himself so vehemently against literary qualification whether he has any conscientious objection to literary education, he was very glad to assure me that he has none. All the same, I wonder whether there would be any Prime Minister or President who would think it desirable to appoint a person who does not know English, assuming that English remains the official language of the business of the Executive or of Parliament. I cannot conceive of such a tiling. Supposing the official language was Hindi, Hindustani or Urdu— whatever it is—in that event, I again find it impossible to think that a Prime Minister would be so stupid as to appoint a Minister who did not understand the official language of the country or of the Administration and while therefore it is no doubt a very desirable thing to bear in mind that persons who would hold a portfolio in the Government should have proper educational qualification, I think it is, rather unnecessary to incorporate this principle in the Constitution itself.
Now, I come to the third condition for the membership of a Cabinet and that is that there should be a declaration of the interests, rights and properties belonging to a Minister before he actually assumes office. Tins amendment moved by Prof. K. T. Shah is to some extent amended by Mr. Kamath. Now, this is not the first time that this matter has been debated in the House. It was debated at the time when similar amendments were moved with regard to the article dealing with the appointment and oath of the President and I have had a great deal to say about it at that particular time and I do not wish to repeat what I said then on this occasion. My Friend Mr. Kamath reminded me of what I said on the occasion when the article dealing with the President