DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 691
sorry that a Member from Bengal should be very enthusiastic against this Bill not knowing the conditions of the widows in Bengal. I have seen them with my own eyes.
Shri Suresh Chandra Majumdar (West Bengal : General) : Not all Bengal Members are.
Acharya J. B. Kripalani : I was talking only of one Member who is very enthusiastic against the Bill. As I was saying the wearer knows where the shoe pinches. I have no doubt that even when women get what they want, their traditional devotion to home, to their menfolk will not diminish and I have every reason to believe this. Sir, I am associated with women who may be considered as modern and you will excuse me if I give you a peep into my home life. You know and the House knows Mrs. Kripalani, but you know only her public activity.
Sjt. Rohini Kumar Chaudhari (Assam : General) : On a point of order. Sir. Can you discuss about Mrs. Kripalani who is not present in the House ?
Acharya J. B. Kripalani : Of course, I would seriously object if the Member discussed her, but I thought I had a little right to discuss her. As I was saying, she takes her full part in public life, but as soon as she is at home she is as good a housewife as any ancient woman.
Though I do not like anybody to do physical work for me, I can tell you that when I am not looking, she does everything for me, including the brushing of my chappals and the washing of my clothes. I have also had the privilege of seeing other women who are considered modern. I am acquainted rather intimately with those Members whom you see only in the House, and I have seen them in their home surroundings with their children, with their husbands, with their brother and I have no hesitation in saying that they lack none of the virtues of the old but they have added a new virtue to enrich their life, that of public activity and public work. Sir, I come from a community in Sind where most of the women are educated and according to modern ideas they may be considered even fashionable, but when I go to their homes I have marked the pathetic way they love their husbands, their children and their brothers.
An Honourable Member : Why pathetic ?
Acharya J. B. Kripalani : I advisedly use the word because you do not know that this love of theirs is a very inconvenient thing to us menfolk, However much we may try to dominate the home and