Sir, the speech of my honourable Friend Mr. Gopalaswami Ayyangar in reply to the debate has left me completely unrepentant and unconvinced. The amendment that has been adopted by the House mellows, to a very infinitesimal extent, the monstrosity of this part of the measure, namely Section 4 of the Bill before the House. Dr. Ambedkar has come to the rescue of his colleague Mr. Ayyangar as, I am sure, he is in honour and duty bound to do. After all our Government is a united team. One Minister must help another in weal or woe, and in joy or sorrow. But Dr. Ambedkar’s defence of the measure has raised fresh difficulties and doubts in my mind. Referring to Section 291, the unamended 291, he pleaded before us that we have merely restored the status quo ante of this provision. That is to say, instead of His Majesty’s Government which obtained before the adaptation of the Government of India Act, we have now got the Governor-General, with of course the Cabinet or the executive. But I wonder whether Dr. Ambedkar with his eye for details and nuances overlooked a certain portion of Section 291. We have been told that it was a slip. With the reputed efficiency of the Law Department it has taken two years for them to detect this slip, and only when the West Bengal problem came to the force and they were worried slip another slip and still another slip; and I am confirmed in my view that we are standing on a slippery slope.
