PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 437
occasion hon. Members in this House must be on the watch to see that nothing which is contrary to democratic principles of Government is allowed to go on and I do submit, Madam, that at the earliest opportunity we should express ourselves that we are very apprehensive of this sort of thing going on between one Cabinet Minister and his other colleagues.
In conclusion I would only submit that every Member of this House is as much interested as and perhaps more interested than the Hon. Law Minister in protecting and safeguarding the rights and privileges of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. They are absolutely equal to us and I would even say they are flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone. We want to treat them absolutely on an equal footing and I would even be prepared to give them more privileges that they may be entitled to not on the basis of their population alone and I would not grudge to give them any amount of representation. But my submission is that there was no necessity for this Bill to be brought before us for reasons which I have already submitted. I have done.
Shri Raj Bahadur (Rajasthan) : Why should the hon. Member be so upset? it is only his first election speech.
Shri Chandrika Ram (Bihar) : I was very sorry to hear the speech of my hon. friend Mr. Kapoor regarding the Scheduled Castes. The Scheduled Castes have been neglected, no doubt, throughout the length and breadth of the country for the last so many centuries, but since the Government of India many years back took over the responsibility for the Centrally Administered Areas, the conditions which were very bad indeed there were made deplorable. Whereas in the other States—Part A and Part B States as they are called in the Constitution—they have got legislatures and other elected bodies, in the Centrally Administered Areas there are local advisory councils presided over by the Chief Commissioner who never cared for anybody. In the Constituent Assembly we moved an amendment for the inclusion of Chief Commissioners also in article 341 which says :
“The President may, after consultation with the Governor or Rajpramukh of a State, by public notification specify the castes, races