DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 817
and are afraid to encroach upon the rights and privileges of another section of the community professing another religion. Therefore, I submit that if my amendment is accepted, it will have very many advantages and absolutely no disadvantage.
I was very happy to hear the point of order raised this morning by my friend Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad, not that I was particularly in agreement with the point of order raised by him, but because of the considerations and the reasons behind his point of order, and the considerations which weighed with him in raising that point of order. He raised the point of order, that the Constitution does not permit us to enact a discriminatory legislation. He referred to article
15 of the Constitution. He referred also to article 25. I feel that the idea working in his mind was, if the provisions of the Hindu Code are beneficent and useful, why should they not be applicable to other sections of the Nation also? And what is in his mind, I am sure, is in keeping with the signs of the times. He would, I am sure, be glad, according to the point of order raised by him, to make an attempt to enact a legislation which would be applicable to all sections of the nation, Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and Christians. There is, of course, another article of the Constitution—article 44 to which reference was made by my friend Mr. Sarwate, that the State shall attempt to have a uniform Civil Code. True, that article is not included in the chapter of Fundamental Rights, but it is under the chapter dealing with the Directive Principles. The Constitution directs us specifically that we should make an attempt to have a uniform Civil Code for the whole country. Well, this is the first occasion when we are attempting to have a Civil Code and in this very first attempt, will it be proper for us, will it be desirable for us to ignore this very important article of the Constitution ? Let us not make a beginning by doing something contrary to the specific directive that has been given to us by the Constitution. When we were sitting as the Constituent Assembly— we all were in it, most of us, and many other eminent persons who are not here were also there—many Muslim Members were also there, and there were Parsis also, and there were also Christians, and persons professing every faith were there. All of them, as far as I remember, unanimously agreed to these clauses in the Constitution, I mean articles 15,
25 and 44. When all those persons professing every faith, were seriously and coolly and calmly considering what sort of legislation we should have in this country, they all unanimously decided that we should have a uniform legislation, so as to be in conformity with