A statue of Dr B R Ambedkar, the principal architect of India’s Constitution was formally inaugurated in a Maryland suburb in Washington on Sunday.
It is touted to be the tallest statue of Ambedkar outside India.
During the inauguration of the statue, chants of ‘Jai Bhim’ were heard. According to the PTI news agency, more than 500 Indian-Americans from various parts of the US and some from India and other countries attended the unveiling ceremony of the 19-foot tall “Statue of Equality”.
The statue was made by renowned artist and sculptor Ram Sutar, who also built the statue of Sardar Patel, called as Statue of Unity, and installed on an island in Narmada, metres downstream of the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat.
“We are calling it the Statue of Equality… this (inequality) is not only the problem in India, everywhere (in) different forms (it exists),” Ram Kumar, president of the Ambedkar International Center (AIC) told PTI after the statue unveiling ceremony.
The “Statue of Equality” represents 1.4 billion Indians and 4.5 million Indian Americans, said Deelip Mhaske from New York who leads the Ambedkarite movement in the US.
“Although this is completely done through community contributions, we received congratulatory messages from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar stating ‘Ambedkarite has put the foundation of Unified India in the USA and globally’,” he said.
“This statue will not just inspire millions of Indians residing in the US but all communities including Black, Hispanic, and others!” Mhaske said. “This is a historic step towards unifying the Indian-American diaspora and working towards making India a superpower not just in technology but also in social justice,” he said.
Mahindra Rajwade, who drove for more than 10 hours from Kentucky to attend the statue unveiling ceremony, said this is a proud moment for all followers of Dr Ambedkar. “This is the first time in the world that we have such a tall statue of Babasaheb outside India”.
The unveiling ceremony was followed by cultural performances by Indian-Americans from various parts of the country.
Born on April 14, 1891, Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar – popular among his followers as Babasaheb – was the chairman of the Constituent Assembly’s most crucial Drafting Committee that earned him the moniker Architect of the Indian Constitution.
He died on December 6, 1956, months after he embraced Buddhism on October 14 that year, the date coinciding with the unveiling of the statue in Maryland. October 14 is celebrated as Dhamma Chakra Parivartan Din by Ambedkarites.
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