DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 323
which, according to Shrimati Durgabai, is something higher in level from those that can be passed taking into consideration the opinion of the common people.
Mr. Tajamul Husain : May I be allowed to move a point of order ?
Mr. Deputy Speaker : What is the point of order, please ?
Mr. Tajamul Husain : My point of order is this, Sir, that the contempt of the whole House has been committed by my honourable friend in this way; you heard him out and he says that there are members of this House who have not understood the Hindu Code Bill. This amounts to a contempt of this House and I want a ruling on this.
Mr. Deputy Speaker : I do not think that there is anything in this point of order. All that the honourable member means is that the full implications of the Bill may be understood differently by different sections of the people. According to him they have not been understood in the manner in which he would like honourable members to understand it.
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : Besides this Sir, I do not claim and I am not at all prepared to say that I have understood the provisions of this Bill any more than the other honourable members of the House About myself I am prepared to say that I have not understood fully all the provisions, all the clauses and all the implications of this Bill and this I can say about all the honourable members and myself in particular. The honourable members here, who are not lawyers, can say that they have fully understood the Bill; but the lawyers present here cannot say with confidence that they have understood all the provisions of the Bill as has emerged from the Select Committee. I am not permitted in this House but, if I be permitted then I like to put two or three questions to Mr. Tajamul Husain and he should give an answer whether he understands or not. It is not at all my intentions to commit contempt of the House. Very respectfully I beg to submit that it is not at all my intention . . .
Mr. Deputy Speaker : Every citizen is presumed to know the Law, every honourable member is presumed to have read this Bill. The honourable member can go on with his speech.
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : I was submitting Sir, after this introduction, I was submitting why I am in favour of Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad’s amendment. Sir, I submitted some facts for your kind consideration, that this House is not so representative as it is to be tomorrow and this is not to take much time, in a few months the