DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 17
broken up and they will remain broken unless you take back your wife.”
You may laugh now. But what else are you going to do? Are you going to prosecute the man? He will bring up his charges. Are you going to prosecute the wife? She will bring a number of charges. You should not enter into the quarrels between husband and wife. Once I found a husband beating his wife. I went and interfered. The woman turned round and came down on me like a wolf on the fold. She said: “It is my husband who is beating me. Who the hell are you to interfere?” Therefore, it is not possible for you easily to interfere in domestic affairs. After all the Kowravas and Pandawas when they fought, they used to say : “we are 100 against 5 but against a third party they said we are
100 plus 5” So in these domestic quarrels both are against us when we meddle in their affairs. So if the daughter is to be happy she must be able to inherit property in her own right I find that the position of a wife is most obsequious. Her sister’s son comes. Her brother comes. She wants to give them a good present. But the wife has to wait upon the goodwill of her husband in order to get even Rs. 5. After all this man has his moods. And he may be in a good mood or a bad mood. So she must have some properly which she can call her own. Would you wish her to get rid of some of her jewels? The idea is fantastic. No woman will sell away her jewellery even after her husband’s death because after her husband’s death that jewellery stands as the symbol of the unity of herself and her deceased spouse. I know it. I have spoken to many women.
Mr. Chairman : Does the Honourable Member want to speak for a longer time?
Dr. B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya : I am sorry. I was not looking at the time. I would like to continue.
Mr. Chairman : The House will now adjourn for half an hour and reassemble at Half Past Five of the Clock.
The Assembly then adjourned till Half Past Five of the Clock in the afternoon.