|
Ssc SOCIAL STUDY CIRCLE di
(ESTD 1982) www.dalitindia.com
ssc@dalitindia.com ***************************************************************************************************** |
Dec 4, 2003
NEWS ANALYSIS:
Ambedkar Foundation - Ambedkar Memorial and Museum:
Eleven years had passed by, since the establishment of
Ambedkar Foundation, as decided by Baba Saheb’s Centenary Celebrations
Committee. At last, the Govt had
acquired, the premises of 26, Alipur Road, opposite Delhi Assembly. This had been the demand of the People for
the last forty-six years. Baba Saheb
lived there during his last days, after resigning from the Govt as Law
Minister, on the issue of Legislating Hindu Code Bill.
We have done repeated Requests to Lawyers and Judicial
Friends, but they could not come out with any Analysis of the original
Provisions of Baba Saheb’s aborted Hindu Code Bill, and those in various
piecemeal legislations enacted so far, during the last 52 years.
It had taken nearly 47 years for the Govt, to even
acquire the premises where Ambedkar breathed his last. So sad it is, to find this sort of extreme
discrimination of even a great and at the same time incomparable National
Leader like Dr Ambedkar! Is this not
because Ambedkar was a Scheduled Caste?
It was in 26, Alipur Road, Delhi, that Baba Saheb
breathed his last on 6th Dec 1956.
Since then, there had been persistent demands to erect a Memorial to
Baba Saheb here. For this, many
protests, demonstrations and rallies were held here and at different
places. But the Govt had been turning a
blind eye and deaf ear to this demand.
After the demise of Baba Saheb, the premises had passed into the hands
of the backward caste industrialist from Haryana – the Jindals. The Jindals, had pulled down the original
residence there, and had built up a new structure there as their
residence. And, the Govts of India and
Delhi, did not want to disturb the Jindals, and also did not want to erect any
Memorial to Baba Saheb. That in Delhi,
full of Memorials, starting from Gandhi, Nehru, Rajiv, and even Charan Singh
and also to Sanjay.
The Work of establishing a National Memorial and
Museum is being inaugurated tomorrow – on 2nd December 2003, at 1230
noon, by the Prime Minister. It is
reported that Mr Bheema Shankar, who carried out the functions of the Director
of Foundation during the years 1996-99, deserves credit for taking concrete
steps, in realising this dream. That,
after Ganga Das, earlier Joint Secretary in the Welfare Ministry, from UT
Cadre, was alleged to have had hiked the price to be paid to the Industrialists
Jindals, who owned the premises, as compensation. And the compensation, went up from the original Rs 50 million to
more than Rs 80 million. That huge sum
of money was credited to the Delhi Govt, to acquire the premise. Surprisingly, it was reportedly said, that
things were left to the present anti-Dalit Lt Governor of Delhi, to have
brought down the cost of acquiring the premises. He had reportedly paid the Jindals, only the depreciated
book-value of the building there, and allotted them equivalent area of land for
building a new residence for themselves.
Therefore the Foundation, would get back most of the money they had
deposited with the State Govt of Delhi.
Afterward
On 2nd Dec 2003, the Winter Session of
Parliament began. Almost all MPs were
in Delhi. But practically no SC/ST MP
was invited to the Function. That
included Mr Prakash Ambedkar MP and Grand Son of Baba Saheb. None of the former Directors of Ambedkar
Foundation, who had dealt with the case of getting the Premises for the
Memorial, were invited. And so were all
the former Chairmen of Ambedkar Centenary Cell. None – from Ram Vila Paswan, Ramji Lal Suman were invited. No SC&ST Leader – be that Sardar Dr Buta
Singh or Miss Mayawati was invited.
Almost all SC&ST MPs were not invited. None of the Ambedkar Chair Professors were invited, though the
Govt had collected from Prof Lokhande, Ambedkar Chair Professor in Nagpur University,
and some beautiful and rare Photographs of Baba Saheb and his Life. And even he was not invited to the Function,
though he was in Delhi, just a couple of days earlier, having brought the
Photographs from various private sources.
Sad all those were to realise.
There was a clear attempt to bottle up Baba Saheb, as
a local personality or just a councillor of Delhi and its surroundings. Almost all the Publications on Baba Saheb by
the Foundation, brought out during the function were in Hindi. Nothing in English or Urdu, or any other
important and ancient historic but living languages. Qualities of the Publications were also very poor. They poorly pale into insignificance, when
one compare them with the Publications from UK, during the Centenary Celebrations.
The invitees and their quality were also very
poor. That was a motley crowd. That because, the Foundation could not
invite eminent SCs&STs, and admirers of Baba Saheb all over the
Country. And, sadly, the Foundation is
not maintaining any Register of Scholars on Ambedkar and Dalit Issues. Nor are there any list of SC&ST
Lecturers, Readers, Professors and other Academicians. There are also no lists of SC&ST
Doctors, Engineers, Scientists, Managers, and other Professionals. Also missing was no list of Dalit Officials,
Activists and Associations. Even those
painstakingly collected and maintained, during the early years of the
Foundation by the first Director, had been reportedly lost. How why and where, is a mystery! These are all very very painful and
mysterious.
There appears to be a clear and deliberate attempt to
bury Baba Saheb, even while appearing to commemorate his memory. Is this BJP Cunningness or RSS
Strategy? Or the subversion by other
dominant castes in the Foundation, or the foolishness of SC in the Foundation
and the Ministry?
Ambedkar Centenary Cell and later
the Foundation co-existed in 25, Ashoka Road, off Parliament Street. But the Govt deliberately pulled the
premises down, on the excuse of sighting Parliament Street Metro Railway
Station. It could have built the
Station, elsewhere, instead picking on Ambedkar Foundation. In fact there was no need to build a
Metro-Station in Parliament Street, when one had been located in Connaught
Place, and another near Parliament, hardly one kilometre apart. Hence, there was no justification to locate
one in between, except for the fact that some individuals and press were
gunning against Ambedkar Foundation.
There were press reports in the mainstream News Papers against the Foundation,
on a main thoroughfare like Ashoka Road.
Apart from these, the Govt now is not even willing to name the
Parliament Street Metro Station as Ambedkar Foundation or Ambedkar Centenary
Cell Railway Station.
The Foundation has still not collected any Video
Library on Baba Saheb, his Pictures, Films, Micro-Films etc. There are many valuable private Collections,
which surely would decay with time and be lost. Similarly, the Foundation is yet to think of building any Audio
Accounts of Baba Saheb’s Speeches, and others Memoirs of Baba Saheb and his
Works. The Foundation doesn’t want to
see what is being done in their Neighbourhood – in Nehru Memorial etc. They are also not acquiring Books, rare
Documents on Baba Saheb, Buddhism, SCs, STs, Working Classes, Women, Children,
Constitution, Reservation and so on. Is this Foundation going to be blind
to the realities around, and deaf to all suggestions or SCs&STs are too
incompetent even to take up right issues with the concerned authorities, and
build up a pressure group and lobby to achieve results?
Further more, it is not coincident that people who are
now being employed in the Foundation – are mostly the relatives, friends and
followers of former Ministers and locals from Delhi, Haryana, Agra, Meerut etc. No place has been given to the Tribals of
North-East, Chota-Nagpur, Chatisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra,
Kerala, Himachal Pradesh etc. Similarly
no place for SCs from Jammu and Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, Gujarat to West Bengal,
and beyond to Assam and on.