DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 757
Shri B. Das : There is nobody here to answer these questions.
Shrimati G. Durgabai : Can you say that they are pleased with their husbands when they marry again and again ?
Shri O. V. Alagesan : I am coming to that Madam, please have a little patience.
Shrimati G. Durgabai : Please answer that question first.
Shri O. V. Alagesan : Yes, I will, in my own time and in my own way.
Pandit Govind Malaviya : May I know till what time we intend sitting ?
Some Honourable Members : Six o’clock.
Some Honourable Members : Seven o’clock.
Mr. Deputy Speaker : I am finding the House getting thinner, and thinner, and when it is quite thin I will get up.
Sjt. Rohini Kumar Chaudhari : Let us rise for tea, now Sir.
Mr. Deputy Speaker : No, the hon. Member will finish soon.
Shri O. V. Alagesan : Sir, the justification for a measure of this kind can be two-fold. There should be a conscious demand from the public for such a measure; or a few people, who have set their hearts upon a measure of reform, may think that it is good for the entire community, while the community may not be conscious of the goodness of it. Then it is the duty of those, who think that such a measure of reform is beneficial to the whole community, to go and educate the people about the soundness of their stand. I only plead that the people who bring forward this measure and who believe that this is a measure beneficial to Hindu society, that they should go and educate the people. I do not want anything more from the protagonists of this Bill.
Shrimati G. Durgabai : They have done it.
Shri O. V. Alagesan : My sister here says that they have done it already, but I should like to point out that the claim made by these reformer friends, this microscopic minority, that may speak on behalf of the majority of the Hindus, is the tallest claim ever made. They should have patience, and as I have pointed out earlier, they should educate the people about the goodness of this Bill, and not rush it through to have some satisfaction.
Another important thing I wish to point out is this. If this Bill is rushed and passed into an Act, then portions of it will remain a dead letter just as the Widow Remarriage Act has remained a dead letter