LS Speaker Om Birla unveils Ambedkar’s statue on IGNOU campus

New Delhi, Jul 15 (PTI) Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Saturday unveiled a statue of B R Ambedkar on the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) campus, calling the famous lawyer a “visionary leader” and one of the key makers of the Indian Constitution.

Birla called the installation of the statue of the Dalit icon a historic event.

He also praised IGNOU saying it has stood as a beacon of hope for students who are unable to go to regular college.

“Baba Saheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar was a visionary leader who made an invaluable contribution to framing the nation’s constitution. The ideals of equality and justice which continually strengthens Indian democracy were closest to Babasaheb’s heart and serve as a guiding beacon not only for Indian governance, but also form the cornerstone of several Constitutions in the world,” said Birla .

He said even though challenges faced by the country at the dawn of Independence were immense, Ambedkar rose to the occasion with his unwavering support for the downtrodden and their education.

“India was backward not only economically and socially but had very low literacy levels as well. Accurately gauging that education and social justice were paramount for the progress of the fledgling democracy, Babasaheb stressed on their importance in the lives of the people,” he said.

Birla also remembered Ambedkar, who was also the nation’s first law minister, for the challenges he had to surmount to get a good education, which he saw as a social revolution.

“It was only through his determination that Babasaheb achieved the status of nation builder and that we should take inspiration from his life,” he said.

Birla commended the IGNOU for its stupendous growth in terms of enrolment and taking in people who would otherwise remain outside the mainstream education fold.

IGNOU is now the largest university in the world in terms of enrolment in higher education having provided quality education to more that 35 lakh students not only in India but across 53 countries around the world.

“IGNOU has been uniquely instrumental in reaching the most remote of areas thereby ensuring that anyone desirous of getting a quality education is not deprived of the same due to constraints,” Birla said at the event where he also released a braille version of the IGNOU prospectus.