96 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
understand that that is only for the time being. The present Prime Minister may after the method of working of the Cabinet or if a successor comes he may also adopt a different arrangement. There is therefore, no use...........
Pandit Kunzru : May I interrupt my hon. friend ? Does he take the phrase “Council of Ministers” to be synonymous with the Cabinet ?
Dr. Ambedkar : I do not. As I said in my opening speech this morning this is a phrase which is capable of double interpretation. I have seen observations by writers on Constitutional Law, where they have stated that even Parliamentary Secretaries or Parliamentary Under-Secretaries are included in the term Minister. There are also other writers who maintain that ‘Minister’ is a narrower term. Therefore, as I said, it is very difficult to satisfy anybody or give a correct answer. This is a fluid situation and must remain fluid : that is the important part. There is no use pinning me down to give my hon. Friend a clear picture of how the Ministers and the Parliamentary Secretaries, all of them stand together vis-a-vis each other.
Pandit Kunzru : I am sorry I have failed to make myself understood. I am not criticising my hon. Friend. All that I am seeking to know is this. If the Council of Ministers does not mean the same thing as a Cabinet, then obviously it can be a wider body than the Cabinet.......
Dr. Ambedkar : Yes.
Pandit Kunzru : ............ and the Ministers of State and the Deputy Ministers can belong to it. No question therefore, arises with regard to their position.
Dr. Ambedkar : I need not dilate upon this. The hon. Prime Minister in a most authoritative statement said that in his opinion the Council of Ministers included everybody.
Shri T. Husain (Bihar) : I want to ask one question. It is clear under the Constitution that a Minister can be a Minister for six months without being a Member of Parliament. That is mentioned in the Constitution itself. There is no such mention about the Minister of State or the Deputy Minister,