DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 747
Mr. Deputy Speaker : I entirely agree. If majority of the members are willing to sit and speak I have no objection.
Some Honourable Members : Yes, we are willing.
Mr. Deputy Speaker : Very Well. Let Mr. Muniswamy Pillay finish. We will see.
*** Shri V. I. Muniswamy Pillay :** Coming as I do from a community that was at the outside of the Hindu Society for centuries, I welcome this measure of religious and social reform. We, who form one-sixth of the population of India, welcomed the advent of Mahatma Gandhi who revolutionised the Hindu society so that not only Caste Hindus but all sections of the Hindus could have an equal place. Some of the friends who preceded me said that religion was in danger. I do not know wherefrom and in what from their objection springs. This country is proud of many Avatars —Lord Buddha, Sankara, Ramanuja—and great social reformers like Ram Mohan Roy and in the present century, the great Mahatma Gandhi who found that untouchability was eating into the very vitals of our nation and himself showed the way for inter-caste marriage. All these reforms show that we are in line with the present age. Whenever any social reform came up before the legislatures, obstructions were placed in the way, so that reforms may not come about. Coming from Madras, I may inform this House what kind of trouble we had when the Temple Entry scheme was before the Madras Legislature. Even in the matter of removal of social disabilities of untouchables, the Ministers had to find themselves in the midst of people who threw chilly powder in their face. Such is the state of affairs when we bring social reform in this country. The great Sankara who brought Advaitism to our land, when he was asked by his Guru “Who are you?” he said:
न मे मृत्युघड्ढा न मे जतिभेद:।
पिता नैव मे न माता न जन्म:।।
न बंधुर्न मित्रे न गुरुर्न शिष्य:।
चिदानंदरुप: शिवोडंह शिवोडहं:।।
These were the words uttered by the great Sankara. He never differentiated man from man, woman from woman. He thought every one was equal. I do not understand why there should be so much opposition to this Bill. In the South the great philosopher. Thiruvalluvar has given to the world tenets as to how a man and woman should
*C.A. (Leg.) D., Vol. VI, Part II, 14th December 1949, pp. 611-14.