836 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
happens in the House of Commons, you indicated that only those amendments which refer to subjects which have been expressly mentioned in the Address of the President would be admitted. With all respect I think that the rule ought to be the other way round. The purport of a debate on the Address is this. Government is pleased to inform the House, through the Address of the President, the subjects to which they allot what may be called priority or urgency. Article 87 of the Constitution of India says that the purport of the debate on the Address of the President is to inform Parliament of the causes of its summons. The purport of the Debate on the Address is to let the Opposition tell the Government what are the purposes which they ought to have included. Therefore, any subject which is not included in the Address of the President, for that very reason becomes a matter of urgency, because, Members of the Opposition may feel that Government has given priority and urgency to matters which they think important but which, in the opinion of the Opposition, are less important than other matters. Secondly, I submit that merely because an amendment refers to a subject which has not been referred to in the Address of the President, it should not on that account be ruled out. But the Opposition should be given an opportunity to discuss and to place before Government any particular subject, which is the subject matter of the amendment, as a matter of urgency which must be given priority over subjects which have been spoken of by the President in his Address. I thought I should make these observations so that you might be in a position to regulate the procedure about the amendments.
The LEADER of the COUNCIL (Shri N. Gopalswami):
I greatly sympathise with the point of view which has been urged by my hon. friend Dr. Ambedkar …………
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Nobody is “Honourable” in this House any longer.
Shri N. Gopalswami : I referred to him as “my hon. friend”. That is not taboo.