Hailing B.R. Ambedkar as a voice of the voiceless and a visionary national leader, Minister of State for Medical Education and Raichur in-charge Sharan Prakash Patil today stressed the need of disseminating and popularising Ambedkar’s message which was relevant to the present-day world.
Speaking at the 125th birth anniversary celebration of Ambedkar at Mahila Samaj grounds here, the Minister said “Dr. Ambedkar was an unquestionable leader of all downtrodden communities that were historically oppressed and exploited. He instilled awareness and self-respect to these social sections and inspired them to rise in protest against all forms of exploitation and oppression. His monumental work, the Constitution, was his consolidated vision for India and we need to preserve and follow it.”
Reiterating his government’s commitment to the development of marginalised sections in the light of Ambedkar thoughts, Mr. Patil claimed that Karnataka was ranked second in formulating dalit welfare programmes and making budgetary allocations to implement them. He strongly held that the realisation of special status to backward Hyderabad Karnataka with the insertion of Article 371(J) to the Constitution was a result of Ambedkar's farsightedness.
“With the special status, the Hyderabad Karnataka Regional Development Board is getting Rs. 1000 crore special grants every year for taking up developmental projects, apart from reservations in education and employment to the candidates hailing from the region. Our government is making consistent efforts to fill all the 30,000 vacancies in all the departments in the region,” he said. The Minister expressed dissatisfaction over the media’s approach towards the government by stating that a section of media was “making a mountain out of a molehill.”
The Department of Information and Public Relations released a booklet pictorially depicting Ambedkar’s life and work. Thousands of rare photographs of Ambedkar were put on display.
Raichur Lok Sabha member B.V. Naik, MLA Shivaraj Patil, MLC Basavaraj Patil Itagi, Tungabhadra Command Area Development Authority chairman A. Vasanth Kumar, Deputy Commissioner S. Sasikanth Senthil, Superintendent of Police Chetan Singh Rathor and leaders of various dalit groups were present.
