Law and order problem has to be effectively dealt with not when incidents start happening; they will have to dealt with, at the root, and we must go into the root cause of it. These are positive and constructive suggestions of doing it. It is not enough to investigate the incident when it takes place. It is necessary to see that such incidents do not take place. People in the villages, the higher casts in the villages should themselves feel it their duty and responsibility and morally they should feel ashamed if such incidents do occur. Unless that sort of feeling is created in the country, especially in the rural areas nothing will happen. This is a national programme, this is not a one-party programme. I do not say it is merely a Government programme. Of course unless the Government takes a lead in this matter, nothing is going to happen.
Instead we find that certain technical explanations are being given about it. One feels that somebody is merely trying to justify. That is the worst part of it; that hurts the conscience of the nation; that hurts the pride of the people. That is the main point.
I would recommend you to read some of the correspondence between myself and the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister felt that I was merely trying to make a political capital out of it to raise it in the Parliament. I was totally dismayed. I wrote to him, “ I must leave it at that. I do not want to carry on correspondence further.” My intention was to establish some sort of contact. I am mentioning this correspondence only today. I am very glad that the members from the Government benches have started raising this question. At least now he will realise that the question was not raised with any political motivation, with any party interest, but because it is a very serious question which is affecting the minds of the people at large and the nation as a whole.
I think, in our country, in the last one century, all the important leaders of our country, from Raja Ram Mohan Roy to the present days, have tried to create a public opinion about it. But even then we have not succeeded enough by merely creating a public opinion. Unless we create certain politic-social sanction behind all our efforts, nothing is going to make any further progress.
I therefore thought it my duty to speak on behalf of my party and say those who have moved this motion have rendered us service today, it is not only one party speaking, it is the entire House Speaking and it is the nation speaking on this issue of Harijans. I would request the Prime Minister, when he replies, that let him not merely speak because he has to justify a Government or a Ministry. He is more than a Prime Minister. I would expect him to look at the question from this point of view and go into the problem much more fundamentally and gives us a programme. As the Prime Minister, he can give us a programme, a programme for the nation, a programme for all the political parties. This is non-party issue. This cuts across all the political frontiers or party affiliations. Let us create a situation in the country that the question of Harijans, the question of Girijans the question of minorities is given the due priority which it deserves.
Sir, I have done.
