816 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Secondly, there is an alternative amendment. If this is not acceptable, I would commend the other alternative amendment to the acceptance of the House. The alternative amendment runs thus:
In the amendment proposed by Shri Banarsi Prasad Jhunjhunwala, printed as No. 18 in Supplementary List No. 1 in the proposed proviso to clause 2, for the words beginning with the words “unless such person” to the end, substitute:
“unless such person, after attaining the age of majority, declares in writing that he or she, as the case may be, shall be governed by this Code, and gets such declaration registered in accordance with rules prescribed for the purpose by the Central Government.”
Mr. Jhunjhunwala’s amendment, as further amended by me, would run as follows:
“2. Application of Code. —This Code or any part or parts thereof applies to all the citizens of India that is Bharat……..”
and then follows that this will be applicable only to those persons who would make a declaration in writing and so on and so forth ; I need not repeat that.
Sir, I propose this amendment with a full sense of responsibility, and I hope I will not be misunderstood, as I hope the two previous speakers would not be misunderstood, for my amendment it is very much in line with the two amendments which have already been moved by my friend Mr. Sarwate and my friend Shri Indra Vidyavachaspati. Only mine is an improvement on theirs. I would like to submit first of all, that in proposing this amendment, I am actuated more particularly by the consideration that this Hindu Code should have an easy passage in this House. That is my first consideration. My second consideration is that it should be easily acceptable to the country as a whole, to the various sections of the community, to the various sections of the nation. And thirdly my consideration is that it should not be said of us that in this Parliament, in this country where we have a secular State, where we took very great pains to frame a constitution with the background of a secular State, we are now trying to legislate in a manner which smells of communalism, which clearly indicates that we are trying to legislate for one section of the community and not for the others, that we are trying to legislate for persons who profess one religion and are ignoring the interests of those who profess another religion, or vice-versa, that we are trying to do something to encroach upon the rights and religious customs of one section of the community