DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 1197
Provided that the rule is certain and not unreasonable; and
Provided further that in the case of a rule applicable only to a family it has not been discontinued by the family.”.
Shri Syamnandan Sahaya: The amendment moved by Shri R. K. Chaudhari relates to part 2 and not one.
Dr. Ambedkar: It refers to the clause as it stand now.
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : In connection with my amendment Nos. 444 and 446 I would like to make some general observations regarding custom. The sole basis for the present Code is that such customs and laws as are opposed to the principle to be enacted in the Code will be abrogated for all time. I take it that the central principle of this codification is that all various customs in all parts of the country will, as a matter of fact, be so unified by the provisions of the Act that one law shall be applicable to the whole of India for the communities concerned. I have accepted that basis as good and I am in favour of the codification, because our laws will then become certain and they will become applicable to all Hindus all over India.
Apart from the unification of the customs sought to be done by the Code, there are many customs and laws which .we want to see changed. It is not only an attempt at codification. It is certainly a code in which we want all our bad customs and laws to be modified and hence in that respect it is a reform Bill also. I am in favour of the provisions of the Bill because I think they are a great advance upon the present practices and they imply reforms of a very great degree among the laws and customs now obtaining among the Hindus.
But when I find Dr. Ambedkar agreeing to this or that custom coming into the Bill I feel that the essential principle on which the Code is based is being sacrificed to opportunism. I know that he is. in a great fix and I have nothing but sympathy for him. Left to himself I am sure he will not accept these customs. Left to myself I would behave in the same way and there is no difference so far as this attitude is concerned between him and myself…..
Mr. Deputy Speaker : We are now on the definitions only. Such matters as sapinda, sagotra or degrees, in regard to which whether custom ought to be allowed to prevail, we will deal with them, we come to individual cases. Is it the hon. Member’s intention that the definition of Customs should go ?
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava: The definition of the word “custom” will govern the word wherever it appears in the subsequent clauses. That word will have the meaning which we assign here.