DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 245
Mr. Speaker : I am afraid the honourable member is practically repeating what the honourable member Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad has said. It is the same thing. I have gone through the report myself bearing in mind the points raised and while I would like to give the honourable member the fullest liberty to place any other facts not included in Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad’s speech, I do not think we should go into the same repetition
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargav a: I do not like to repeat. I only want to know if these facts are taken to be correct. If ultimately another honourable member gets up and says these facts are wrong, then the whole argument would fall down. Therefore, I want to place before you how I have come to the conclusion that these facts are correct. If you take them as correct, I do not want to trouble the House and your goodself. I submit that as a matter of fact it appears from the report of the Select Committee itself that the substituted Bill was alone considered, because from the majority committee’s report as well as the dissentient’s report it appears that no other Bill was considered and the Bill which was referred to the Committee was not at all considered.
Now, Sir, Dr. Ambedkar has kindly placed before us a comparative statement. If you will kindly see these tables, there are two parts, one shows how from this Bill the original Bill was different. He has given another table showing the difference between the Draft Bill and the Select Committee report. This also shows that only the re-drafted Bill was considered and not the original Bill. Any way, taking this to be the right tiling, if it is accepted that the re-drafted Bill was only considered, the question arises before you whether the re-drafted Bill could be considered by the Select Committee or not, and if this action of theirs is not tantamount to the breach of privileges of this House as well as abuse of the powers that this House granted to the Select Committee. Now, Sir, I may not be taken to say that there was any wrong motive behind it; such a course may have been intentional or nonintentional; it may have been done with the best of motives or with the worst of motives; I am not concerned with that. I am concerned with one central fact that the original Bill which this House referred to the Select Committee was never considered by the Select Committee.
The Honourable Shri K. Santhanam (Minister of State for Railways and Transport): On a point of order, I wish to know whether this House can go into the manner in which a Select Committee has