DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 839
of these religions, does it necessarily follow that they belong to the Hindu religion ? Should the Code be applied to them ? That is the question which the House will have to answer. I submit that this sub clause (2) must be omitted because it seeks to enact a proposition which should not be accepted. Let us proceed gradually. You must not force the Code upon such persons. There may be some who follow some other religion or who have no religion at all, or a new religion may come into the world and to them the law should not be made applicable. The application of the law should be gradual. The impact of this tremendous measure should be gradual. In fact I was very much enamoured with part of the amendment moved by my hon. friend Mr. Kapoor. There was a great deal of sense in that part of the amendment which said that the Code should apply only to those persons who want it. That was also the purport of the amendment of Shri Jhunjhunwala. Of course there were some differences with regard to detail. But the important principle is that the Code should apply only to those who want it to be applied to them. Therefore this definition of a Hindu is not warranted. If the Hindu Code was not a controversial one and had been an acceptable one to all there would have been no difficulty. So by accepting that part of the amendment……….
Pandit Krishna Chandra Sharma (Uttar Pradesh) : It means that everybody should be allowed to make a law for himself.
Shri Naziruddin Ahmad : You are trying to force down the throat of a person a medicine which he does not like. However good the Code may be you cannot force it down the throat of the Hindu community.
An Hon. Member : Who says that ? We all want it.
Shri Naziruddin Ahmad : First of all you must take public opinion on your side. You must approach them gradually. Make it first optional and then if the law is good for everybody they will gravitate towards it. They will themselves push each other and compete with each other in getting themselves registered earliest. The law should attract people voluntarily and not by force. That is the great principle which underlies these amendments and suggestions. It is not a case of everybody making a law for himself but a case of a few persons forcing a law upon 33 crores of people……….