Mr. President Sir. thank you for
giving me this opportunity to speak on this Resolution. I stand here to support
the Resolution moved by Pandit Nehru, with all the force that I can
command. This Resolution contains all the principles that need to be enunciated
in such a kind of Resolution to be placed before this House. First of all, it
has stated the objective that we all in India have in our minds, that is, to
proclaim at a certain date the independence of India. Here we have only
resolved that we shall proclaim the independence of India and we have that firm
resolve in our mind to get the independence of India. That is the desire of
every120 one in India. I cannot imagine that there will
be anybody in India from one end of India to the140 other end, who will be against that kind of
objective. Then it proclaims also that the kind of Constitution that160 we shall make will be a republican form of
Government, a democratic form of Government, a Government by the people and for
the people. That is surely the desire of all the people of India. It is true
that there are some monarchies in India but we envisage the time when all these
monarchies will become at least wholly constitutional monarchies like the
Monarchy of England, and we believe that even the people of all the States
envisage that in240 their own States, there will be a democratic
form of Government. Therefore, there can be no objection at all to these
declarations that we have in this Resolution. Then it speaks of the territories
which will be included in the280 Union of India and it is comprehensive enough. Then in the third paragraph it
speaks of autonomous units and says that those autonomous units, which are now
autonomous according to present boundaries or with such other boundaries as
they may320 have afterwards, will remain autonomous units
together with residuary powers and will exercise all powers and functions of Government
and administration, except such powers which are assigned to the Central
Government. This is our desire; this is the desire of360 all the people of this country. It is the
object before us that each province will be autonomous. In this connection, I
want to say that it is very unfortunate that the idea of Sections was
introduced in the Cabinet Mission Declaration and that in a Section
according to the latest interpretation given by His Majesty's Government a
certain province420 will he outvoted by the majority of members of
another province. I speak especially in connection with Section 'C' which
relates to Assam. Assam is a non-Muslim province. There are 7 non-Muslims who
are representatives of Assam in this Constituent Assembly and 3 are Muslims. I
am sorry that my Muslim friends are not present here, in this Assembly. I480 wish they were here. In Bengal, there are 27
non-Muslims and 33 Muslims. If we are brought into a Section, there will be 36
Muslims and 34 non-Muslims and if the voting in that Section will be by a
simple majority vote as interpreted by His Majesty's Government, it will mean
that our Assam Constitution will be framed by the majority of the people of
Bengal, that is the Muslim League. We cannot conceive of anything that
is so unjust560 as this. It is a matter which should be
considered by all the members of this Constituent Assembly. When the Cabinet
Mission made its Declaration, we in Assam thought that such kind of
interpretation might be given in the future600 but we took it for granted that the Cabinet
Mission would not be so unreasonable as to place Assam, which is a
non-Muslim province, to come under a Muslim province and that our Constitution
would be framed by the majority640 of the members in the Section. We never
thought that it would be like that, because we considered that it is
unjust for the people of Assam to be placed in such a position.
Sir, I was very much gladdened by the
declaration of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel the other day that
the Congress had not accepted the interpretation of His700 Majesty's Government. We still hold that
position. It appears to me that the British Cabinet Mission has changed
its mentality720 from what it was when they were here in
India. When they were in India they were under certain circumstances and
were influenced by the opinion at that time in this country. When
they have gone back to England, they are placed under a different circumstance,
influenced by the Conservative Party there, and the force which Mr.
Jinnah has placed upon their minds. They have changed their opinion altogether.
That is what appears to me. I would like to know800 from Lord Pethick-Lawrence whether in reality
there was that idea in the minds of the Cabinet Mission when they were
here in India. There was nothing in any of their declarations, in any of
their writings that said that the840 vote in the Sections would be by a simple
majority vote. The principle of driving by force a non-Muslim province to come
under a Muslim province is absolutely wrong. Mr. Jinnah has forced His
Majesty's Government to commit this great injustice to our province, and we
feel that we shall have the sympathy and support of this
august body, that our province may not be driven to that
pitiable condition. I want Mr. Jinnah and the League members to be here and I
want them to come here to take part in the framing of the Constitution
of India. I will expect him and all the others to be just. I do not want
anything else except that they will960 act like gentlemen and be just. Everybody
knows it is unjust that we should be forced into such a position980 in which we are now placed by the
recent interpretation of His Majesty's Government. We are an autonomous
province and a non-Muslim province. Why should we be forced to go to that kind
of a Section which could outvote the province of Assam and frame the
Constitution according to the desire of the majority,
created artificially. It may be said that this will at
once bring a conflict between the British Government and this
Constituent Assembly. This need not be. Someone said that a deviation
from the four walls of the Declaration of May 16th and giving a different
interpretation1080 would be revolutionary. This Constituent Assembly
need not adopt that attitude at all. I believe that we can adopt a friendly
attitude. We thank the British Government for the good effort it made to
bring a compromise between the Hindus1120 and the Muslims. The British Government made
good recommendations. It has acted as peacemaker. We shall, as far as
practicable, implement its recommendations, but we shall, like
responsible persons, be free to deviate from them whenever we find it is
impracticable and unjust to carry out literally to the letter any of its
recommendations. We shall frame a Constitution which will do justice to all
minorities and which shall not overlook any community. If the members of
the Muslim League1200 co-operate, we shall heartily welcome them.
After we have finished framing the Constitution, the whole of India will get
the opportunity to see what kind of Constitution this Constituent Assembly has
framed. We request the British gentlemen not to make speeches in Parliament
which will suggest revolutionary activities in India. They should co-operate
with us quietly until we finish our1260 work, and then judge our work. Then only the
British Government will have the opportunity to see what kind of1280 a Constitution this Assembly has framed. Only
after the Constitution has been framed, they will have the opportunity
to say that this Constituent Assembly has been just or unjust to
a certain community or to the Muslims. We do expect that the Muslim community
will come here and co-operate in framing the Constitution of India. There is no
one who wishes their attendance here more than I do. I have some very good
friends of mine among the members of the Muslim League and I would like
to see them come here and co-operate with this Assembly. 1376
I want to speak on only one more point, which
has impressed me from the speech of Viscount Simon in the House of
Lords. 1400 Viscount Simon has said that if this
Constituent Assembly carries on the work of framing a Constitution for India, it
will threaten India with a Hindu Raj. I was very much surprised when I saw
these words in1440 a newspaper this morning. When I was in
Western countries, I was impressed by the fact that some people in those
countries had an idea that a Hindu is a man who is steeped in his caste
system and who worships a cow. If this is the idea which Viscount Simon
has when he refers to a 'Hindu Raj’, then he is entirely wrong. The people who
are assembled here belong to different religions. If they frame a Constitution which
will be a democratic Constitution and which will do justice to everybody,
why should that Constitution be called a Hindu Raj? If by 'Hindu' is meant
people who live in India, surely we should have Constitution for the
people of India. We want a Constitution to be made by the people of India, but
if some people in India do not want to come into the constitution just
now, they will come afterwards and I envisage a time when they1600 will all enter into this Constitution and make
India one united country with a democratic form of Government. 1621
