পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (প্রথম খণ্ড).pdf/৭৬৭

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বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ প্রথম খণ্ড
৭৪২

বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ প্রথম খণ্ড should vote, of course, excluding minors, for obvious reasons. It comes to this then that all adult members of the people should vole and everyone should have equal right to vote. What is the meaning of Equal? It is to be equal in extent and equal in value. Otherwise equality would not really be equality. Now if one territorial constituency is to elect its representative, every citizen thereof would try to select the best man possible and if he wants to select a person who does not belong to his faith he has got that right. How can you put a restriction on that right? If you do it you will destroy the totality of the citizens of the territory, from amongst whom a citizen is to elect his representative. Hindus to elect Hindus from particular area and Muslims of that area to elect Muslims would lead to create compartments and thereby destroy the equality which the underlying intention of the declaration. That will affect his fundamental right. Take for instance a simple case. Can you legislate that when there is illness of a member of a Muslim family he will have to call in only a Muslim doctor? To exercise his right of franchise he should elect the best man to represent his cause in the National or Provincial Assemblies. He would like to choose anyone from the territory from which he is to elect. He has equal right, and that equal right cannot be curtailed in anyway. What is the separate Electorate? It means that the Hindus should elect members for the Provincial or National Assembly only from the Hindus and Muslims should elect members for the Provincial Assembly and the National Assembly only from the Muslims. That would go against what has been stated in the United Nations declaration and it will be an infringement of this declaration. It is the natural right of a citizen that stands recognized in the declaration, which he should be allowed to exercise. Now, having regard to the provisions of the Constitution and having regard to what has been declared in the declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations this motion, I think, is really irrelevant being not in conformity both with our Constitution and the Declaration of Human Rights. The jointness is there and a citizen is to exercise his right, on the basis of the jointness of the right, whether he be a Muslim or a Hindu. That is the position. This motion has come before us in compliance with Article 145 as enacted in the Constitution. Let me give a brief history how it came to be nacted. I was a member of the Constituent Assembly and we the non-Muslim members fought tooth and nail that this question of Electorate should be there and then in the Constituent Assembly. My friends of the United Front who wanted to support us did not give us support although they were pledge bound to support us and our demand was for Joint Electorate with reservation of seat for the backward classes including the Scheduled Castes. But they could not agree. So this matter had to be postponed. My esteemed friends Mr. Abu Hossain Sarkar and Mr. Hashimuddin rang me up from here over the phone. My esteemed friend Mr. Datta. now the Health and Medical Minister, was also with them at Dacca, when I was rung up. They all said, “well do not try to have the matter decided in the Constituent Assembly. Bring it down to the Province and we shall give you Joint Electorate.” Not only that, along with Mr. SarkaT, my esteemed friends Messrs. Ashrafuddin Choudhury and Abdus Salam Khan went to Karachi requested me to agree to the said proposal. But what do we see now today? I told them then that I anticipated trouble if we brought this matter to the Provincial Assembly, because in that case there would be commotion in the country, and communal hatred and communal frenzy will be roused, and that is what actually has happened today round about Dacca. Not only so, we are getting information of such happening from the districts also. You