How RSS, Jan Sangh, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Opposed Hindu Code Bill Leading To Ambedkar’s Resignation News24 –

After Home Minister Amit Shah accused the Congress and first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru of insulting B R Ambedkar and getting him defeated in the elections and forcing him to quit the interim government, the questions being asked is: how and why the first Law Minister quit the Nehru-led interim cabinet? Experts also ask what was the role of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, the RSS, the Hindu Maha Sabha and other Hindutva outfits.

After returning from the US, armed with degrees like MA, Ph D, D Litt and D Sc, B R Ambedkar who was a victim of caste discrimination, inequality and poverty, decided to reform the Hindu society these came to an end or at least alleviate to some extent.

B R Ambedkar Introduces Hindu Code Bill

Taking a decisive step in the direction, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly introduced the Hindu Code Bill in April 1947, before independence.

Ambedkar tried to reform the majority society by making major reforms in sync with the proposed laws. He proposed laws granting equal inheritance rights to widows, sons, and daughters; prohibiting polygamy for Hindu men; providing women with the right to seek divorce; and legalising widow remarriage.

He also suggested the revolutionary step of ending marriages within the same caste.

Nehru: I Will Die Or Swim With Hindu Code Bill

Irrespective of what the BJP says today, Nehru not only supported the bill, he declared, “I will die or swim with the Hindu Code Bill.”

Consequently, the Constituent Assembly referred the Hindu Code Bill to a Select Committee in April 1948.

However, by the time the Constitution was finalised in November 1949 and came into effect in January 1950, the Hindu Code Bill lapsed.

It was argued that a bill that may change the majority society forever, should not be passed by bodies like the Constituent Assembly and the Interim Government, as their members were not elected and they did not represent the masses.

Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Opposes Hindu Code Bill

Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, who was the founder of Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha and BJP’s predecessor the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, opposed the bill tooth and nail.

Mukherjee, who was the Minister for Industry and Supply in the 15-member Interim Government vehemently opposed the bill in the Constituent Assembly and outside.

RSS, Jansangh, Hindu Maha Sabha Oppose Bill

Hindutva organisations like the Rashtriya Syamsevak Sangh, Hindu Mahasabha and Bharatiya Jansangh opposed the bill and held massive nationwide protests. The RSS organised a huge demonstration against the bill in Delhi’s Ram Lila ground on December 11, 1949.

The Anti-Hindu Code Bill Committee was formed, supported by conservative lawyers, Hindu clerics and Hindutva outfits including the BJP’s predecessor. The Shankaracharya of Dwarka threw his weight behind the Hindu Code Bill.

According to historian Ram Chandra Guha’s iconic book, ‘India After Gandhi’, thousands of supporters of the Nagpur-based saffrom outfit marched to the assembly building in Delhi on December 11, 1949.

They chanted slogans like “Down with Hindu Code Bill” and “May Pandit Nehru perish”. The protesters also burnt effigies of Nehru and Dr Ambedkar.

Batches of the RSS volunteers marched on the streets of New Delhi, shouted slogans against the Hindu Code Bill and courted arrest. They also chanted the slogans like “Pakistan tod do, Nehru Hakumat Chhod Do”.

Swami Karpatriji Challenges Ambedkar

Hindu saint and Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad founder Swami Karpatriji Maharaj emerged as the leader of the movement against the bill.

He was particularly peeved by the fact that the bill was piloted by Ambedkar. Making pointed references to the law minister’s caste, he openly said that a “untouchable” had no business entering in matters that were the preserve of the Brahmins.

Delivering a public speech in Delhi, he challenged Dr. Ambedkar for a public debate on his interpretations of the Shastras. Rejecting Ambedkar’s claim that the Shastras did not favour polygamy, Swami Karpatri quoted the third verse of the third chapter of the third section of Yagnavalkya’s Smriti concerning marriage.

Swami Karpatri was also against divorce as he argued that divorce was prohibited in Hindu tradition, while “to allow adoption of a boy of any caste is to defy the Shastras and to defy property”.

Congress Was Divided On Hindu Code Bill

According to Chitra Sinha’s book, ‘Debating Patriarchy: The Hindu Code Bill Controversy In India’, the Congress Party was a divided house and a very powerful and strong segment of the legislature, including Rajendra Prasad and Acharya JB Kripalani was against the Hindu Code Bill.

When the debate on the bill took place in the Parliament and it was put to vote, the Congress did not issue a whip and allowed its members to participate in the debate and vote as they wished.

Backing his law minister, Nehru wrote to Ambedkar, “You should take things easy as there is opposition inside and outside to the Hindu Code Bill, the Cabinet has decided that it should be taken up at the beginning of September 1951.”

Hindu Code Bill Put On Backburner

The country was gearing up to its first General Elections in 1951-52 and the Congress did not like to look as a vehement crusader for the Hindu Code Bill. It put the bill on the backburner to avoid Hindu backlash.

Ultimately, the bill was set aside. Ambedkar was disappointed as passing the Hindu Code Bill could have brought h m greater joy than the Constitution itself.

Frustrated and disillusioned, Nehru’s Law Minister quit the government in September 1951.

BR Ambedkar Quits Nehru Government

While putting his papers, Ambedkar said in the Parliament, “I will now deal with a matter which has led me finally to come to the decision that I should resign. It is the treatment that was accorded to the Hindu Code. The Bill was introduced in this House on the 11th of April 1947. After a life of four years, it was killed and died unwept and unsung….”

However, after registering the landslide victory in the first General Elections held in 1951-52, Congress introduced four separate bills, containing the provisions of Ambedkar’s Hindu Code Bill.

Ambedkar Praises Nehru

Nehru got the Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu Succession Act, Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, and Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, enacted.

Heaping praise on Nehru, B R Ambedkar said, “He [Nehru] will be remembered also for the great interest he took and the trouble he took over the question of Hindu law reform.”

He added, “I am happy that he saw that reform in a very large measure carried out, perhaps not in the form of that monumental tome that he had himself drafted, but in separate bits”.

And now, Bharatiya Jan Sangh’s successor and the party that swears by its icon Shyama Prasad Mukherjee has accused Nehru and the Congress of insulting Babasaheb Ambedkar.