862 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava: The question of equality before the law has been raised. And various other matters have also been raised. Articles 25 and 15 were referred to and it was stated that the provisions of those articles are being violated, that in view of those articles, we cannot enact a measure of the nature of the Hindu Code. But as a matter of fact, that is not the case. I would submit that even with the amendments now suggested by Dr. Ambedkar, this section will not read quite well. That is why I have suggested my amendments.
Some complaint was made by my Friend Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad that there is an attempt to apply the Hindu Code to persons who are not Hindus. But my humble submission is that my friend is not correct in saying that because if my friend takes the trouble to see to whom it applies now, he will find that it applies even now to many persons who are not Hindus in the sense in which the word is popularly understood even to-day. If you look into Gour’s Commentary—I think it is page 165—you will find that a good many persons who do not call themselves Hindus are still governed by the Hindu law. It governs many who are geographically Hindus, if I may say so. The Hindu system is not a creed. The term “ Hindu” has a geographical significance also. Therefore, all those who are not bound by any other special law like those of Muslims, Christians, Parsis or Jews, they are all bound by the Hindu Law. This is no innovation brought in by Dr. Ambedkar. He does not want that those who are not Hindus should come under the Hindu Law. This argument raised by my friend Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad is a wrong one. It is not a question of conversion at all. If the Hindu law applies to a person, he does not thereby become a Hindu. If he adopts some of the rules of succession, of divorce or marriage of the Hindu Law, he does not become a Hindu. And I may also say that this kind of thing does not help us either. What is the use of increasing the number of Hindus or Muslims ? The days of proportionate representation or special representation are all gone. I don’t care if a man is a Hindu or a Muslim or Parsi or Jew, as long as he is a good citizen. I do not want anyone to give up his religion. The argument of my Friend Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad is based on the old psychology that the proportion of Hindu must be more, or that of Muslims must be less or that Parsis should be more and so on and so forth. As a matter of fact the subject matter of clause 2 is taken from the old Hindu Law. The first part of it says that this Code shall apply to all Hindus, that is to say, to all persons professing the Hindu religion in any of its forms or