606 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Code Bill necessary for that purpose ? We have got a measure in the Bombay Province by which, so far as that Province is concerned, there is monogamy
and as a natural corollary to it divorce in certain cases is allowed. We have not gone further than that measure in these matters. If the only object is
to ordain monogamy then I say there can be no objection to it, for, apart from ideological reasons there are practical reasons also in its favour. Nobody
now wants to have more than one wife. There are very few excepting a few millionaires and multimillionaires who can afford to have that luxury;
others can’t have it. It is not even a mental luxury as suggested by the hon. Mr. Santhanam for the simple reason that one cannot manage without
anxiety even with one wife and her children. What mental luxury can a man derive by the idea of being able to marry another wife under these
circumstances ? As a matter of fact, it is quite simple proposition and I think both sides would agree that monogamy must be the rule. But let us
not try to confuse the real issue regarding divorce. As soon as you have monogamy the result is that supposing one of the mates is a leper you have to make arrangements to see that the other is relieved from that liability
or else you will be denying him the conjugal right. In some respects divorce is a corollary of monogamy. Even Manu, the great law giver, has provided
for such cases.
नष्टे मृते प्रव्रजिते क्लीबे च पतिते पतौ पंचत्सु आपत्सु सुनारीणा पतिरन्यो विधीयते।
But the main point so far I am concerned is that whether you lay down monogamy by law or not it is going to be the rule with at least 9,999 out
of 10,000 people. So that question need not agitate our minds at all. Sir, apart from all these considerations, there is one last point. A uniform Civil Code must be our endeavour according to article 44 of the Constitution
which we have already passed. We have incorporated a Directive Principle in our Constitution that the State shall endeavour to secure a uniform
Civil Code throughout the territory of India. I would like you seriously to consider whether by enacting a measure like this only for the Hindus
we are advancing the cause of our progress towards that ideal. I should think that we are going backward rather than forward. My hon. friend
Mr. Santhanam seemed to think that after the passing of that article 44, we are trying to progress towards that ideal by this measure intended to
weld Hindus into one. It may or it may not be so. What is to be welded in the interests of the security of our nation is not the welding of Hindus
alone but all the citizens of this country. All the inhabitants of India