DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 41
person does not want to be a Hindu the way is open to him to prove that he is not and the Bill will not apply to him.
Then my friend, Dr. Sitaramayya asked me to tell him whether the rule of law contained in this Bill, whereby the women will acquire absolute estate in the property which they inherit, will apply to widows who have already taken the estate before the passing of the Act. I am afraid I must say that the Bill has no retrospective effect.
Nor would it be possible to give retrospective effect to the principles of the absolute property of women for the simple reason that long before this Bill will come into existence, vested rights would have been created in that estate and it would not be right and proper to divest them however much our suympathy may be with the widow.
Mrs. Hansa Mehta raised several questions indicating that the women and particularly herself were not satisfied with some of the provisions contained in the Bill relating to the rights of women. It may be that in an ideal sense the Bill does not come up to expectations. But I would like to tell her that she must remember that this society is an inert society. The Hindu Society has always believed that law-making is the function either of God or the “ Smriti ” and that Hindu Society has no right to change the law. That being so, the law in Hindu Society has remained what it was for generations to come. Society has never accepted its own power and its own responsibility in moulding its social, economic and legal life. It is for the first time that we are persuading Hindu Society to take this big step and I have not the slightest doubt in my mind that a society which has bucked up courage enough to tolerate the large step that we are asking it to take by reason of this Bill, will not hesitate to march on the path that remains to be trodden and reach the goal that she has in mind.
Sir, much has been made of the fact that there is a great deal of public opinion which is opposed to this Bill. I have certainly not weighed the opinions that we have received but I do like to say this,
that this is hardly a question which we can decide by counting heads. This is not a question which we can decide in accordance with the opinion of the majority. When society is in a transitory stage, leaving
the past, going to the future, there are bound to be opposing considerations: one pulling towards the past and one pulling towards the future and the test that we can apply is no other than the test