India remembers Ambedkar amid politics over his legacy

Hailing B R Ambedkar’s contributions to the country's progress, leaders from across political parties, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday paid tributes to the key architect of India's Constitution on his 131st birth anniversary.

Prime Minister Modi said Babasaheb Ambedkar’s ideas for the welfare of Dalits, the downtrodden and deprived sections of society are an inspiration for his government.

Modi joined a host of dignitaries, including President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, in Parliament to pay floral tributes to Ambedkar.

"Tributes to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on his Jayanti. He has made indelible contributions to India's progress. This is a day to reiterate our commitment to fulfil his dreams for our nation," Modi said in a tweet.

Born in a Dalit family in 1891, Ambedkar was a jurist and economist who played an important role in India's freedom movement. The India's first law minister championed the cause of the Dalit community which faced deep-rooted discrimination.

Former Congress chief Gandhi said Dr Ambedkar gave India its strongest pillar of strength – the Constitution.

"On the occasion of his 131st birth anniversary, my tributes to Babasaheb Dr B R Ambedkar, who gave India its strongest pillar of strength -- our sacred Constitution," Gandhi said in a tweet.

On its official Twitter handle, the Congress said Babasaheb Ambedkar remains a champion of equality, human rights and social justice.

After paying tributes to B R Ambedkar, Vice President Naidu said he was the voice of the socially oppressed and dedicated his life to the uplift of the marginalised sections of society.

"My humble tributes to the architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr BR Ambedkar on his birth anniversary today. Babasaheb was a multi-faceted genius – a legal luminary, visionary statesman, outstanding constitutional expert, brilliant parliamentarian & social reformer," the Vice President Secretariat tweeted, quoting Naidu.

At Ambedkar's birthplace in Mhow in Madhya Pradesh, a large number of people paid tributes to him, where Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced to include the town as a destination in the list of the 'Teerth Darshan Yojna'. The Madhya Pradesh government has been running the Teerth Darshan scheme for some years to enable people and senior citizens to go on a pilgrimage free of cost at least once in their lifetime.

Ambedkar's followers from various parts of the country, especially Maharashtra's Vidharba region, arrived in Mhow to pay their respects to him at his birthplace in Kali Paltan area of the town, where a grand memorial of Ambedkar has been built. Mhow has been renamed as Dr Ambedkar Nagar in his memory. In Lucknow, Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati used the occasion to lash out at her rivals, saying that Dalits who become MPs and MLAs through "casteist parties" such as the BJP and the Congress will only serve their interests rather than those of the community.

If these leaders try to do something for their community, they are removed from the party and the government, Mayawati said at a programme at the party office on the occasion of the Ambedkar Jayanti.

"It has always been clear in the country's politics that even if casteist parties, especially the Congress and the BJP, make a Dalit MP, MLA, minister, deputy chief minister or even the president, that Dalit person can only ensure his progress and that of his family but cannot do anything for the progress of the neglected community," a BSP statement quoted Mayawati as saying.

Taking a dig at the various programmes organised by different political parties to pay tributes to Ambedkar, Mayawati said these parties, who have always neglected the ideals and struggles of Ambedkar, are competing to pay tributes to him out of "pure political selfishness".

In Mumbai, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said at a time when neighbouring Sri Lanka and Pakistan are facing instability, India continues to remain stable and united due to the Constitution given by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. Pawar made the remarks at an event organised here to mark the birth anniversary of Ambedkar. Pawar said Ambedkar's contribution towards the country is “indisputable” and the latter did the job of giving stability to India from a political point of view. “In neighbouring Sri Lanka, the situation is such that its democracy may glide into crisis. What is the situation in another neighbouring country of ours, Pakistan? There is no stability in our neighbouring countries. It gets disturbed many times,” the former Union minister noted.

Meanwhile, the BJP accused the Congress of belittling Ambedkar and limiting his identity to just a Dalit leader.

The Narendra Modi-led government recognised Ambedkar’s role in shaping modern India, and restored to him the credit of being a founding father of the independent nation, it said.

The ruling BJP said the architect of the Constitution was given the country's highest honour Bharat Ratna by a government which had support of the BJP in 1989.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi as part of the 'Samajik Nyay Pakhwada', BJP general secretary Dushyant Gautam and Union Minister Virendra Kumar cited various initiatives taken by Modi government acknowledging the contribution of Ambedkar. Meanwhile, in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida, a statue of B R Ambedkar was found disfigured on Thursday, prompting police to launch a probe into the matter.

The disfigured statue is located in Chhijarsi village under the Sector 63 police station limits and the incident was reported by locals in the morning, officials said. A police spokesperson said a new statue is being installed to replace the disfigured one with the help of residents. “Police force has been deployed in the area and the matter is being investigated. All angles are being probed and action will be taken accordingly,” the spokesperson said.

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