DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 891
Sir, I warn this House against this aggressive character of our women. I think it is time that we speak out. I want to ask the Hon. Minister for whom he is legislating this Hindu Code and who wanted him to push on and proceed with it against the wishes of a large section of Hindu Society. Is it not because the hon. Lady Members of this House have egged him on to do it ?
I should, however, like to tell the Hon. Minister that he is not alone in that predicament. This House will recollect what our respected friend Acharya Kripalani said at the time we were considering the Report of the Select Committee, about the attitude adopted by one of his colleagues in this House and his companion in this world. He said that he was making bold to speak because his ‘colleague’ had gone abroad and when she returned she might ask for an account of the finances of the household, but also his conduct during her absence.
That shows, Sir, where we stand today. It is on account of this that you are prepared to brush aside the sentiments of the less forward Hindu women, who do not know how to dress themselves properly. It is the women who do not have recourse to gaudy and gorgeous sarees, women who do not know how to paint themselves—it is that section of the Hindu women whom you are trying to suppress in the way you are doing today.
An Hon. Member : Is all this in clause 2 ?
Shri R. K. Chaudhuri : I want to make it perfectly clear that I oppose all the amendments, including that of my hon. Friend Dr. Ambedkar, except the one which has been put forward by my hon. Friend Mr. Jaspat Roy Kapoor. I support that amendment because it practically tantamounts to an opposition to the Hindu Code. I will explain how it is an opposition to the Hindu Code. It gives us the fullest discretion to make this Hindu Code a dead letter, because according to this amendment the Hindu Code will only govern those people who would come forward in the open and make a declaration and say that they want this Hindu Code to be applied to them.
Shri J. R. Kapoor : I am tempted to exclaim ‘ Save me from my supporters’!
Shri R. K. Chaudhuri : I may tell my hon. Friend Mr. Kapoor that he may leave aside the kambli but the kambli would not leave him. To the end of this debate on the Hindu Code I shall follow him wherever he goes. If my hon. Friend Mr. Kapoor’s amendment is carried, it practically means that we shall be in the position that we