Mr. Vice-President, Sir, this article incorporates some of the most cherished rights of us all. For the last sixty and odd years during which the freedom movement was taking shape, we made innumerable speeches and sacrifices in order to win the fundamental rights that are incorporated in this article. But, the point of view of many members here as well as the opinion of some people outside is that these fundamental rights have been so much curtailed that their original flavour is lost. Sir, every law, whether it is in the form of a right or a duty, takes shape according to the condition of the society then prevailing. We went through a course of suffering and sacrifice which were imposed upon us by the repressive laws of British imperialism; this naturally made us votaries of unadulterated fundamental rights and that was our hope. But, ultimately when we emerged out of those innumerable difficulties, we are faced, within our own society, with elements who want to take advantage of those rights in order to do violence to men, society and laws. Hence it is that the Drafting Committee as well as the Governments in the various provinces and the Centre, are hard put to safeguard these rights in their pristine purity. No man who believes in violence and who wants to upset the State and society by violent methods should be allowed to have his way under the colour of these rights. It is for that purpose that the Drafting Committee has thought it fit to limit the operation of these fundamental rights.
