DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 905
been made in all seriousness and I submit there is no reason for us now to depart from this very important decision of the Committee, whose recommendations are the basis of the Code which we are considering today. I do not know whether the mass of evidence collected by this Committee has been carefully gone into and if it is so done. I have no doubt in my mind that the Government of India will come to a similar decision with regard to the applicability of this measure.
Some friends yesterday made a suggestion about taking a referendum on this very important issue. Here again we find the Hon. Law Minister wholly opposed to it and not only that but the climax was reached when he said that the electorate are ignorant and they are people who do not know anything about this matter
Shri Bharati (Madras) : About the technicalities of the matter.
Shri Syamnandan Sahaya: You heard his speech and so did I. The records are here. It is not a question of technicality at all. Every member of the Hindu community in this country knows fully what he wants so far as his religious and social laws are concerned and there will be no difficulty, in my opinion, in taking a referendum on a question like this. When I recalled that he who was the main architect of the Constitution of India and he who was an ardent advocate of adult franchise should now speak so disparagingly about democratic methods, it was not only a surprise but a shock to me and I thought within myself whether what the Hon. Law Minister himself said yesterday about the leopard not changing spots was as true today as when it was said. We cannot forget that wherever or whenever democracy is inaugurated they do not start it with the entire electorate being as educated as one would like them to be. Let us not forget that deomcracy is its own teacher and the more you consult your electorate the more you give them the chance to express their opinion, the more conscious and the more educated you make them. I therefore submit for the consideration of the Law Minister that there cannot be a more approriate method of consulting the electorate today than a referendum on the Hindu Code. After all whether the electorate today is politically conscious to that extent or not, it certainly will have to be admitted that so far as religious sentiments and feelings and religious laws are concerned they are fully conscious and if you ask any man in the streets of a town or village, he will be able to tell you what is good for him. I therefore submit that even now there is a chance and opportunity and the Law Minister will do well to consult the electorate on a matter like this.