568 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
- HINDU CODE— contd.
Mr. Deputy Speaker: We will now proceed to the further consideration of the Bill to amend and codify certain branches of Hindu Law, as reported by the Select Committee. Shri Mukut Bihari Lal Bhargava will resume his speech.
Shri R. K. Sidhva (C. P. and Berar : General): Before we proceed to the further consideration of this Bill, we would like to know what is going to be the programme in regard to it. Will it go on indefinitely ? I would request that by common consent some time-limit may be fixed on the speeches of members so that as many members as may be possible to be accommodated may participate in the discussion.
Mr. Deputy Speaker : I may inform the House that this is an official Bill and they have provided for two days. The Speaker has not concern with it.
Pandit Mukut Bihari Lal Bhargava (Ajmer-Merwara): Sir, I have to resume my unfinished speech on the Hindu Code. But before I do that, Sir, I have respectfully to draw your attention to the declaration that was made by the Hon. Prime Minister on the opening day of this momentous session.
Sir, the Hon. Prime Minister was pleased to characterise this measure as a piece of simple and essential legislation. I respectfully protect that the measure that is for consideration before the House is not a simple one. I may also be permitted to point out that some of the opposers of this Bill have been accused by the Hon. Prime Minister of adopting delaying tactics. Those are well conversant with this Assembly and the proceedings that have taken place here will readily recognise that this measure has not at all been sufficiently discussed this vital measure which affects the life and death, as I would say, of the Hindu society has been on the anvil of this legislature for only a very short time. If you refer to previous occasions when social legislation like the Sharda Act and the Hindu Women’s Rights to Property Act was brought before this legislature, you would find what an amount of controversy they raised. Compared to those Bills, this Bill is enormously of great importance. It affects the entire structure of Hindu society. This Bill, Sir, if placed on the Statute Book—people may differ with me, the Hon. Prime Minister may differ from me,
- C.A. (Leg.) D., Vol. VI, Part II, 12th December 1949, pp. 464-91.