DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 1265
Not to speak of the Vedas, the Shastras and good conduct; not even was the conscience spared ; the Hon. Minister and
10-15 A . M . this Government mean that our conscience be left out and this Bill be passed : and work be done according to it. Just think, what an injustice it means. Need I submit more, you just look up the meaning of the word ‘Law’ in the dictionary. What does it mean, after all ? You can look up the word in the dictionary, and some of you must have seen it already. Dr. Ambedkar is a scholar no doubt; he must have looked it up in the dictionary.
Dr. Ambedkar: No; I don’t look it up.
Babu Ramnarayan Singh : But he puts his scholarships aside and is behaving in a strange way. What is Law after all ? Law today means a supremacy, or a predominant society making a regulation with the help of a military or police and thrusting it on the society as a whole. Sir, Law does not mean this. Law, according to the lexicon, means :— “Law is nothing but the will of the people expressed in terms of Law”—which, in other words, means—whatsoever is the will of the society, is placed in the form of a law and is called a law. These people have now gained supremacy : Police and military are at their command, and with the help of police and military and in the name and with the help of party discipline, they may get anything passed.
Shrimati Dixit (Madhya Pradesh) : There is no party discipline.
Babu Ramnarayan Singh : There is party discipline and you will pass it.
Shrimati Dixit: No ; it is not so.
Babu Ramnarayan Singh: Well, what will come out of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ ? I know the position.
Sir, I mean to say that a lot of injustice is caused by such a law. It is not in the interests of this country, nor do the people of this country want it, and, therefore, this should not be passed as law. As I told you a number of revolutions took place, great religious revolutions, but the fundamental of the Vedas were not changed. With one stroke of pen Dr. Ambedkar now wants the vedas an offence, and this Bill should, in no case, be passed. As there are different texts and rules, the interpretations follow them. A number of sages (Rishis) were born in our land. Shri Thakur Das made a mention of them. It has been said :
Vedah vibhinnah Smritiyo vibhinnah,
Naiko muniryasaya vachah Pramanam,
Dharmasya tatvam nihitam guhyam,
Mahajano, Yena gatah Sa Pantha.”