480 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
said it is looking very glaring that everybody’s name is there but not his. I said “I will consider.” I was then discussing the construction of a barrage over Jamuna in order to provide water to the city of Delhi in summer, beause it goes dry in summer, I told my Secretary who was a European by name Priar. And I said, “Mr. Priar look here, this is what the Secretary to the Governor General has said to me. Do you think we can do something?” What do you think was his reply? His reply was “Sir, we must not do any such thing at all.” Such a thing at any rate in this country to do would be quite impossible. For any officer to say something which is contrary to the wishes of the Minister is, to my mind, utterly impossible. But in those days it was quite possible, because we too in India like Great Britain had made that wise decision that administration must not be interfered with by the Government, and that the function of the Government was to lay down policy but not to interfere and not to make any discrimination. This is very fundamental and I am afraid we had already departed from that and may completely abnegate and abolish the thing we have had so far.
Condition No. IV
The fourth condition precedent, in my judgement, for the successful working of democracy is the observance of constitutional morality. Many people seem to be very enthusiastic about the Constitution. Well, I am afraid, I am not. I am quite prepared to join that body of people who want to abolish the Constitution, at any rate to redraft it. But what we forget is that we have a Constitution which contains legal provisions, only a skeleton. The flesh of that skeleton is to be found in what we call constitutional morality. However, in England it is called the conventions of the constitution and people must be ready to observe the rules of the game. Let me give you one or two illustrations which come to my mind at this moment. You remember when the 13 American colonies rebelled, their leader was Washington. It is really a very inadequte way of defining his position in the American life of that day merely to say that he was a leader. To the American people Washington was God. If you read his life and history, he was made the first President of the United States after the constitution was drafted. After his term was over, what happened? He refused to stand for the second time.