PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 949
Dr. Anup Singh (Punjab) : Last time when you spoke, you said that you would burn the Constitution.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Do you want a reply to that ? I would give it to you right here.
My friend says that the last time when I spoke, I said that I wanted to burn the Constitution. Well, in a hurry I did not explain the reason. Now that my friend has given me the opportunity, I think I shall give the reason. The reason is this : We built a temple for a god to come in and reside, but before the god could be installed, if the devil had taken possession of it, what else could we do except destroy the temple ? We did not intend that it should be occupied by the Asuras. We intended it to be occupied by the devas. That is the reason why I said I would rather like to burn it.
Shri B. K. P. Sinha (Bihar) : Destroy the devil rather than the temple.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : You cannot do it. We have not got the strength. If you will read the Brahmana, the Sathapatha Brahmana, you will see that the gods have always been defeated by the Asuras, and that the Asuras had the Amrit with them which the gods had to take away in order to survive in the battle. Now, Sir, I am being interrupted …………..
Mr. Chairman: You are being drawn into …………..
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : ………….. into all sorts of things into which I do not wish to enter.
I was saying that Article 31 was an article for which we were not responsible. Even then, we have made that article as elastic as we possibly could in the matter of compensation. If members of the House will refer to entry 42 of the Concurrent List, and compare it with Section 299 of the Government of India Act, 1935, they will find how elastic has been the provision made by the drafting Committee. Section 299 of the Government of India Act which governed the question of compensation described the following ingredients. One was that there must be full compensation by which they, no doubt, meant compensation in accordance with the terms of the Land Acquisition Act. Secondly, it said that compensation