DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 875
Sardar Hukam Singh : May I enquire with your permission from my hon. Friend what form of marriage would that be. Would that be a Dharmic marriage without any ceremony. ( Interruption ) I do not agree with him and that would not be a dharmic marriage. Anyhow, I do not want to enter into a controversy here.
I come to my next point, that is, adoption. What I am going to say might look somewhat surprising to some of my hon. Friends and in this respect also I claim that we are much in advance of the rest of the country, so far as this adoption is concerned.
Dr. Ambedkar : You are always in advance of everybody.
Sardar Hukam Singh : I will tell you just now and then you would agree with me that we are much in advance on that subject too. As has been just pointed by my hon. Friend, Pandit Thakurdas Bhargava, it is the customary appointment of a heir. It has nothing to do with religion. There is no horror of incest. We are not eager to create sons to offer us pindas.
Shri Hussain Iman (Bihar) : Are there Pindas ?
Mr. Speaker : Let him proceed further.
Sardar Hukam Singh : We do want that we might have a heir to succeed to the property.
Dr. Ambedkar : Why do not you allow the property to go to the State ?
Sardar Hukam Singh : Then it might go to the Hon. Minister and that we do not want to do. Therefore, this is a most secular institution. There are no restrictions as to the age, caste or any ceremonies. A simple declaration is there and perhaps it was observed, last time too I made a remark that a man can adopt another older than himself. The adopter might adopt a man of his father’s age. There is no harm in that ; he might be married and he might have several children. This institution you would not find anywhere. I fail to understand, Sir, if all these usages and customs are effaced, what is going to happen to these institutions, to these customs that we love very much, these traditions to which we have been accustomed for so many centuries.
Then, Sir, I would cite another peculiar instance, which might interest some of my hon. Friends and I invite the attention of the Hon. Minister particularly to this point.
Mr. Speaker : The hon. Member may proceed with his speech.
Sardar Hukam Singh : I wanted the Hon. Minister to pay attention to a subject which is very interesting.