DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 1033
it is so to say a custodian of confidences and feelings which cannot be expressed in any language of the world. It is a noble conception : I do share that but at the same time it does happen that sometime an ideal is perverted. We find that in a progressive society things happen which have got to be taken notice of by those who are leaders of society and who are leaders of thought. I today, particularly on account of our contact with the West, we have somehow or other to go down in certain respects, it does not mean that our culture is less ; it only means a challenge to us to reform. We have got the genius to adopt, we had to act, and therefore, those legislations to which reference was made by my hon. friend, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee were quite justified.
What is this prevention of a marriage between a person belonging. to one community and a woman belonging to another ? Does it sound very well in our modern days, in the year 1951 ? Does it sound very well that a man because he is born in a particular community that he must remain outside the boundaries of the village perpetually ? Does it sound very well that because a man belonging to a downtrodden caste today by his merit has assumed a position of great inportance and is learned today, he must not be given the same social status, the same social welcome, the same social reception as we give to a person belonging to another caste ? Is the Varna to be determined irrespective of guna or it has to be determined in the context of guna or in other words “accomplishment” ? That is a challenge to your sense of equality. If today the old ban against Pratiloma marriage is completely broken, you should welcome it. That is exactly what is being attempted. Why should there be such differences ? If marriage is a matter of free choice, why should there be legal impediments in it ? Why should a person belonging to one section or one community not marry a woman belonging to another ? All these artificial man-made impediments must go. I do not remember any case in which the son of a Brahmin was born with a copy of Vedas or a Kshatrya born with a sword or a Harijan born with a broom. At birth they are all alike and at death they are all alike. In between the two, it is the duty of the society and the State to see that the same atmosphere of equality shall prevail. Anybody who argues against this, argues against humanity, argues against the very principle which goes to make a man, argues against self-respect. What is being done here ? Nothing contrary to our old traditions is being attempted. On the contrary, my accusation against my friend and colleague Dr. Ambedkar is that as he is growing old and old, he is growing less and less enthusiastic about social reform. Ten years ago,