constituent assembly of india debates (proceedings)- volume vii

Shri H. V. Kamath: Are we going to have a recess from9th December to a date to be specified later?
Mr. President: It all depends on the business on hand. I have suggested more than once that I do
not want to curtail discussion. As we are considering the Constitution of the country, we shall not do
anything in a hurry; but at the same time I do not want waste time.
Shri H. V. Kamath: Are we going to adjourn on the 9thDecember, irrespective of whether we
complete the consideration of the Constitution or not?
Mr. President: That we shall see.
Shri H. V. Kamath: You were pleased to remark in the morning as regards the non-participation of
Hyderabad and Bhopal, that it is a matter entirely for the Government to consider. Mr. President,
according to our Rules you have power to call upon the rulers of Hyderabad and other States to send
representatives to the Constituent Assembly. But, you were pleased to say that it is a matter in the
hands of Government. I do not know how the Government comes into this affair. You are fully authorised
to call upon the rulers to send their representatives to the Assembly.
Mr. President: Sitting in this Assembly, I have no right to compel anybody to do anything. Those
who have come in are entitled to participate in the deliberations of this Assembly and those who have
not come, we cannot force them to come. It is for the Government to deal with them.
Shri Algu Rai Shastri : *[Mr. President, as far as I remember you had announced in the last session
that the Constitution to be presented here would be in Hindi and that it might be translated into English.
But the statement you have made today has been a source of disappointment in as much as we learn
that we have to discuss the very Draft that has been prepared by the Drafting Committee in English. We
have before us its Hindi version also. I do not understand why we should not take into consideration the
Hindi version of the Draft when it is before us. We may take up for consideration the Hindi version of the
Draft clause by clause and if any portion is found to be translated in rather difficult language. Dr.
Ambedkar who himself is a great scholar of the Sanskrit language, may explain such portion from the
English Draft to those who are unable to follow the version in Hindi. It is necessary for every county to
frame its constitution in its own language. We belong to a country that has its own language. We should
therefore discuss it clause by clause in our own language. The Draft prepared in a foreign language
should not be presented to this House for discussion.
Sir, perhaps you remember that at the commencement of the first session of the Constituent
Assembly I made a request that the discussion in this House should be carried on in a language which is
understood by the people of this country. We should not proceed in this House as if it were the British
Parliament. The word `Dominion' is entirely foreign in character. I remember a saying of the late
Moulana Mohammad Ali. He used to say that the word` Dominion' might be applicable to Africa, South
Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania. These are the dominions where our alien rulers had
founded colonies and established cantonments. But India cannot be said to be a cantonment for the
British. They went to the countries I have already named and established there their colonies and
cantonments; they also carried their language with them and the people of those countries are English
speaking. But this cannot be said in our case. We have our own language, our own civilization which has
come down to us through hundreds of centuries; so also we have our own literature. Just as the English
people can take pride in their literature, in Shakespeare and Milton, we too can be proud of the works of
our Kalidas, Tulsidas, Jayasi and Soordas. It will be matter of deep shame for a country which has
developed a language of its own, to frame its first free Constitution in a foreign language. Therefore, I
would like to entreat you, to pray to you that the Hindi version of the Draft Constitution should be placed
before this House as the original Draft of the Constitution. The clauses of the Hindi version should be
discussed here and the English Draft should not be presented here for discussion. It should be treated