Homage to Ambedkar

NEW DELHI, APRIL 14. The nation today paid homage to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on his 109th birth anniversary.

Blood donation drives, rallies and medical camps and garlanding of the statue of the leader marked the day, observed as ``Kranti diwas'' by the Congress(I) across the country.

The President, Mr. K.R. Narayanan, the Vice-President, Mr. Krishan Kant, the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee and the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, paid floral tributes to the portrait of Dr. Ambedkar in the central hall of Parliament. The Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr. G.M.C. Balayogi, the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani and several other Parliamentarians also paid their tributes. Mr. Balayogi inaugurated the first-ever Dalit Samaj website on the activities of and opportunities for Dalits on the Internet in the Parliament House annexe.

At a ``Kranti diwas'' rally here, Ms. Gandhi slammed the Vajpayee Government for its decision to review the Constitution.

At a time when the nation was celebrating the golden jubilee of its Constitution, the BJP and its allies were attacking it which act was an insult to Dr. Ambedkar, she said.

Memorial planned

The Centre has decided to set up a memorial in Maharashtra for Ambedkar. The decision was taken by the Union Cabinet at its meeting on Thursday, an official spokesperson said here today.

Parties clash over garlanding statue

In Ahmedabad, the birth anniversary celebrations were marred by a clash between groups of two political parties which threw stones and ``slippers'' at each other in a bid to be the first to garland the statue of the architect of the constitution at Saranpur.

Four persons, including a woman, sustained injuries in the clash,leading to a disruption in the celebrations for sometime.

Police identified the miscreants as ostensibly belonging to the BJP and the Congress(I). The Gujarat Social Welfare Minister, Mr. Fakirbhai Vaghela, blamed the Congress(I) for disturbing the celebration and credited the BJP workers for maintaining patience.

Addressing reporters, Mr. Vaghela said,`` I would like to give credit to our partymen for showing patience against provocation. They (Congress) were pelting the BJP workers with stones and we did not raise our fingers. This despite the fact that the Congress workers had damaged our Ambedkar Rath''.

- UNI,PTI

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