DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 1109
Dr. Ambedkar: We have enough police.
Pandit Malaviya : For a man who is still in a large measure in the animal stage.........
Shrimati Renuka Ray : Question.
Pandit Malaviya : I do not say this in any sense of disrespect. I am only talking as a sociologist. If those men find new impediments put in their way, impediments to which they have not been used, to which they are not accustomed, and they find themselves thwarted in a tiresome manner, they may not have in themselves that much of restraint, they may not have in themselves that much of development and control that they should wait for the law, and society may be faced—among the eighty per cent of whom so much has been talked about—with an upheaval which is probably not even imagined today. Therefore, I said that this Bill is not only not welcome to those who, like me, would rather that the traditions which have come down from ages past should be respected and upheld, but even to those who are going to be affected by it in a much larger and more immediate measure. I may submit respectfully that some of the Members of this House who have been so loud and enthusiastic with regard to the provisions of the Bill have little in common with those people.
Dr. Ambedkar : Not even me.
Pandit Malaviya : Certainly not the Hon. Law Minister ! The Hon. Law Minister has been likened, even profanely, to no less a sage than Manu himself and I am reminded of a shloka. ( Interruption ) Somebody asks me why I am jealous. Unfortunately or fortunately I am not so built that I should have the privilege of being jealous towards the Hon. Law Minister.
Dr. Ambedkar: How can a Brahman be jealous of an untouchable ?
Pandit Malaviya: Better tell them ! I am reminded of a shloka where Kumbhakarna asks Ravana ( Interruption ). If hon. Members will just bear what that shloka says, probably they will feel slightly better human beings than before. Kumbhakarna asks Ravana why in his attempt to win over Sita’s mind, with all his demoniac powers of changing his appearance, he does not take the shape of Rama when going to her, and Ravana says : “The trouble is, the moment I take the shape of Rama or think of him, the mere association with the thought of Rama makes it impossible for any evil thought to come