Now coming to Article 278, I would appeal to the House to listen closely and carefully if they are so minded. This Article 278 is a lineal descendent of the Articles that have gone before in Part XI and of the Articles that have been moved by Dr. Ambedkar today. They have got to be considered together, as Dr. Ambedkar remarked in the course of moving the amendments before the House just a little while ago. There have been certain changes embodied in the new draft brought before the House today, changes in relation to Article 278 as it stood in the Draft Constitution, This Article 278 now before the House seeks to confer more powers upon the President than were envisaged in Article 278 of the Draft Constitution. Firstly, the President is empowered to act under Article 278 not merely if he gets a report from the Governor or the Ruler of the State but also otherwise. What that “otherwise” is, God only knows. Reading all these Articles since yesterday and the amendments moved today, it seems to me that we are not going about the business in an honest fashion. We here representatives of a democracy, just liberated from foreign slavery, sitting in solemnity and dignity to frame the Constitution of our motherland, we are adopting subterfuges to nullify and set at naught, certain Articles of certain provisions which we have already adopted. To my mind, this is not the way to go about business. It may be all right if we said that “if the President receives a report from the Governor or the Ruler of a State“, well and good. After all we have already decided that the Governor shall be the nominee of the President. If that be so, cannot the President have confidence in his own nominees? If he cannot have this trust and confidence in his own nominees, let us wind up our Government and go home; let us wind up this Assembly and go home. This is not the place for us; let us go to the market-place and, let us go into the streets; let us go wherever we like, but not here in this Assembly. In that case Government should be wound up and it will have no right to function. I am using strong words, hard words, but I believe no occasions. Such as this, hard words are very necessary. Sometimes it is very necessary to be cruel, to be kind, and if I am hard today the House will pardon me. I have therefore, Sir moved amendment number 224 seeking to delete the words “or otherwise“. I want that the President should be empowered to act only in case the Governor or the Ruler of a State informs him that a situation has arisen or that an emergency has arisen etc. etc. but not otherwise. What is this ‘otherwise‘? Do you mean to say that the President, even granting that he is to act upon the advice of the Council of his Ministers, can intervene solely on the strength of his own judgement, perhaps butteressed or reinforced by the advice of his Council of Ministers at the Centre but without a report from the State Governor or Ruler? No, I shall not be a party to this transaction. This is a foul transaction, setting at naught the scheme of even the limited provincial autonomy which we have provided for in this Constitution, and I shall pray to God ‘that He may grant sufficient wisdom to this House to see the folly, the stupidity, the criminal nature of this transaction.
