Today marks the 130th birth anniversary of the sculptor of India’s constitution BR Ambedkar. On this occasion, the government earlier this month declared April 14 to be observed as a public holiday even as the country already celebrates his birthday as Ambedkar Jayanti every year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to the micro-blogging site to wish the nation on this day. "I bow to Bharat Ratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on #AmbedkarJayanti. His struggle to bring the marginalized sections of the society into the mainstream will continue to be an example for every generation," PM Narendra Modi tweeted.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also extended wishes on Ambedkar's birth anniversary while pointing at the current state of the country, saying India is now proving that it is indeed possible to regress in time.
The Centre had made a similar announcement last year as well when it declared April 14 as a national holiday.
Here are interesting facts about the chief architect of India’s constitution.
He was born on April 14, 1891, in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh. Mostly popular as Babasaheb, Ambedkar was a social reformer, economist, thinker, politician, and the first Law Minister of Independent India.
Ambedkar spearheaded a crusade for the upliftment and empowerment of Dalits and carried out several campaigns on social discrimination against Dalits, women in particular.
His original name is Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. His father Ramji Sakpal was a Subedar in the army and his mother Bhimbai Kapal was a housewife. The family settled in Mumbai in 1897 and Babasaheb enrolled at Elphinstone High School.
After matriculation, he took admission to Elphinstone College in 1907. He graduated from Bombay University in 1912 with a degree in Economics and Political Science.
He was a statesman, philosopher, ethnographer, historian, and economist as well as a connoisseur of many subjects. He is considered a key architect of the constitution of India.
He had strongly opposed Article 370, which grants special status for Jammu and Kashmir.
Babasaheb Ambedkar was a renowned social reformer and a Dalit icon, he spoke unequivocally against the inequality, injustice, and discrimination faced by the members of the Dalit community.
Babasaheb Ambedkar died on December 6 in 1956. In 1990, he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.
Check powerful quotes of Babasaheb Ambedkar below:
We are Indians, firstly and lastly.
Cultivation of the mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence.
I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality, and fraternity.
I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress that women have achieved.
Unlike a drop of water which loses its identity when it joins the ocean, man does not lose his being in the society in which he lives. Man's life is independent. He is born not for the development of society alone, but for the development of his self.
Men are mortal. So are ideas. An idea needs propagation as much as a plant needs watering. Otherwise, both will wither and die.
Law and order are the medicine of the body politic and when the body politic gets sick, medicine must be administered.