1164 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Shri Syamnandan Sahaya : Are you criticising the Deputy Speaker’s ruling or are you criticising the remarks of Shri Ananthasayanam Ayyangar ?
Dr. Ambedkar : I am dealing with the statement of Shri Ananthasayanam Ayyangar. I am glad the hon. Member is so technical today.
Shri Syamanandan Sahaya : I am, so all the time. But the Hon. Minister is taking advantage of his position as a member of the Cabinet.
Dr. Ambedkar : I find that in the course of the debate on the Bill which took place in the year 1937, my Hon. friend Shri Ananthasayanam Ayyangar himself raised this question about the applicability of the Bill and I find that his speech is spread over practically to two pages here. As I said, he raised this very question whether that Bill was going to take away the option that was given to the Khojas. He put this question direct to Mr. Jinnah, because as the House will remember, the Shariat Bill was not a Government Bill. It was a private Member’s Bill which was brought in and practically Mr. Jinnah was in charge of that Bill. And Mr. Jinnah had given an absolutely categorical answer to Shri Aanthasayanam Ayyangar that not only was that Bill complusory, but even the option given to the Khojas would be taken away by that Bill.
Pandit Maitra : Why not inform the House of the background of that Bill also ? I was there when the Bill was being discussed and I know that Mr. Jinnah wanted the Muslims not to be governed by any Hindu law at all.
Dr. Ambedkar : I can give the book, it is here, and anyone who wants to read the whole debate can do so. I cannot spend any more time on this because I have to deal with the amendments.
Shri J. R. Kapoor : That debate is of which year ?
Dr. Ambedkar : 1937. The only difficulty that ...
Shri Bhatt : Was that Shariat Bill passed, or referred to a Select Committee or dropped ?
Dr. Ambedkar : The Bill was passed and it was decided that no option was to be given.
The only difficulty that arose was that when they introduced clause 3, it was introduced in the House without the assistance of the draftsman and what happened was that they introduced the word “Act” instead of referring to it as “clause”. That defect was cured by my friend Mr. Kazmi, who brought in a Bill in 1943 and substituted the word