DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 545
to in Dr. Mitter’s report. Then there are ex-Judges of the Calcutta High Court. One of them is Mr. N. C. Chatterjee, and he is now a Judge of the High Court, and he was against it. The Hindu Mahasabha was then under the Presidentship of Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee and it opposed the Bill, evidently, with the consent of the President, Dr. Mookerjee on a major matter like this. And then there is Dr. R. B. Paul, a distinguished jurist of continental fame, and he has opposed it. Their opinions are before us. In fact, in the face of all this opinion in Bengal, I am surprised that a Member from Bengal should have asked for names.
I submit, therefore, Sir, that the Bill should go out to the public for eliciting public opinion. If Hindu opinion is against it, why should you thrust upon it a law which is not wanted by them ?
An Honourable Member: It is dictatorship.
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad: Yes, it is sheer dictatorship. There is the fear that if it is sent to the public before the elections, possibly it will lead to complications. But do you know what complications will come up if you pass it before the elections ? The illiterate people will get furious. This Bill will dislocate their lives. It is not easy for them to change their lives all at once under the dictator’s command. Even in Russia, Lenin did not go so quickly or remorselessly as we seem to be going here, in utter disregard of public opinion. There is in Russia a desire and a pretence to respect public opinion. But here there is no such things. It is sheer dictatorship born of fear that if the Bill goes to the public it will be rejected. I find it is asserted that the public are in favour of it. If so, why not be public arm you with the authority to pass the law ? Sir, it is injurious to the Hindus in general; it is injurious to the ladies in the larger interests and it is injurious to the public at large, and it is no use forcing your opinion upon an unwilling public. Had it not been a matter of personal interest any one is entitled to enforce his opinion, but having come here as the Minister of Law in a democratic Government and basing their authority on public opinion, is it fair and proper for them to flout that public opinion and to bypass it, to circumvent it or avoid it ? It is a devious method, a circuitous course which is not warranted by any system of democratic Government. Why should you not go to the people if the law is favoured by them ? Are the people so backward in their ideas that they will not be able to determine what is good or bad for them ? The question is not what is good in the