New Delhi : Just to play down Rahul Gandhi’s national launch of Dr B R Ambedkar”s 125th birth anniversary celebrations from his birthplace Mhow near Indore on Tuesday, the government on Saturday announced the grand plans drawn up by a 21-member committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The committee also includes senior ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, M Venkaiah Naidu, Smriti Irani, Sadanand Gowda, Ram Vilas Paswan and Suresh Prabhu.
The celebrations aimed to spread the thoughts and ideas of Ambedkar include a commemorative postal stamp and a coin on him, observing 14th April every year as “National Bandhutva Bhav/Samrasta Diwas,” a tableau on him in the next Republic Day Parade, a commemorative publication containing articles on Dr Ambedkar by renowned personalities, digital exhibition of photographs, works and other articles associated with him, release of audio CDs of collected works of Dr Ambedkar in various languages and converting them in Braille.
Organising “mock Parliament sessions” for higher secondary class students, a run for national unity and “nukkad nataks” (street corner plays) at major places across the country and development of at least two prominent places like Nagpur, Vadodara and Mhow that are associated with Ambedkar are some other programmes among a 16-point grand plan drawn up with more to be decided by the committee, an official announcement said.
The Cabinet was apprised of the constitution of a committee under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to suggest different programmes and activities to be undertaken by various ministries, departments, states and Union Territories to celebrate Ambedkar’s anniversary and spread his thoughts and ideas. Briefing the media after a meeting of the Cabinet, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Cabinet was informed of 16 major activities being undertaken by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to promote Ambedkar’s ideology and philosophy. These initiatives included setting up of Ambedkar International Centre at 15, Janpath at a cost of Rs 197 crore.
Prasad and Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot ruled out any political motive behind the government’s elaborate plans but hit out at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who will kick off Congress’ nation-wide celebrations of Ambedkar’s anniversary from the Dalit icon’s birth place Mhow in Madha Pradesh on Tuesday.
“Rahul Gandhi and his party never honoured Ambedkar.
Neither he got Bharat Ratna nor his oil painting was installed in Parliament premises as long Congress was in power. If todaysomebody is going there (Mhow), I want to ask why did he not do it for so many years?
“Today they (Congress) are doing it as the land beneath their feet has slipped,” Gehlot, the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, said.
Both BJP and Congress are planning to observe Ambedkar’s birth anniversary in a big way this year in their attempt to reach out to the Dalit community.
Assembly elections are due in Bihar this year and the BJP is wooing the Dalit and Mahadalit communities in its attempt to capture power in the key Hindi state on its own.
The last Lok Sabha polls saw caste barriers breaking in key north Indian states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where a sizeable sections of Dalits voted for BJP.
