Now coming to the last amendment of my friend Prof. Shah, I may say it is a laudable one. There could be no objection to it. But I do feel that he has given great prominence to the English language by saying that the office of Governor, President and Ministers should be given to those persons in the first instance who know English and who, within ten years, learn the national language. My reaction to such a clause is that the President, the Governors and the Ministers should be only those who know both English and the national language at the very outset. The term of office of these dignitaries is five years and we have passed a clause laying down that the Governor shall be elected once and only once more, that is to say for ten years in all. If the Professor’s amendment is accepted, it will mean that by the time a President or Governor is expected to learn the national language he would have retired. Of course I do not think it is appropriate to insert it in the Constitution. Even on merits, such a provision would be defective in that it is the national language that should be given importance and not English. We cannot, I agree, summarily reject the English language. Therefore we may provide that if a person does not know the national language along with English he should not be deemed to be qualified to hold the office of President, Governor, etc.
