New Delhi, Mar 21 (NDTV): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today compared Dr BR Ambedkar to iconic civil rights leaders Martin Kuther King and Nelson Mandela and vowed a world-class memorial in Delhi in honour of the architect of the Indian Constitution.
Giving the sixth annual Ambedkar Memorial Lecture, the PM said that none of his predecessors had delivered the speech.
"It is a big mistake to label Baba Sahib (only) a messiah of the Dalits," he said, underscoring that Dr Ambedkar's work in fighting the caste system was one of his many huge contributions to independent India. He also stressed that there will be "no dilution of reservation for the Dalits and downtrodden (castes)". His comments come at a time when his party's ideological parent, the RSS, has said that great caution must be paid to ensure only the truly marginalised benefit from affirmative action policies.
Two traditionally affluent communities - the Jats in Haryana and the Patels in Gujarat - are demanding, with violent protests, that the government allocate a quota of reserved government jobs and places to them. The challenge for the BJP, which governs both states, is how to clear new reservation policies without being shot down by the courts, which have reiterated that no more than 50 per cent of state jobs and college seats can be reserved.
The government has been headlining events to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar, with the opposition Congress accusing it of trying to appropriate a national icon that was for decades given minimal attention by the ruling BJP.
The government has been making a determined effort to counter the accusations that it is insensitive to Dalits, a charge levelled by critics and opposition leaders after the suicide of Dalit student Rohith Vemula at his university in Hyderabad in January. Mr Vemula had, before his death, written to university officials with grave allegations of being discriminated against. The university and the union government have denied that, but senior ministers have controversially questioned whether Mr Vemula's family had rightly listed themselves as Dalits.