Did Nehru and Ambedkar share a healthy political relationship? Why didn’t the Congress award Bharat Ratna to Ambedkar? Read more to understand how Congress has belittled Ambedkar
Bengaluru: At his election rally in Maharashtra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi blamed Congress for insulting BR Ambedkar, considered the father of the Indian Constitution.
Keeping this in mind, we went through pages of history available in form of different websites to understand what actually transpired and if there was a bad blood between the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and BR Ambedkar himself.
Also Read: PM Modi says Congress insulted Ambedkar, Nehru
The following paragraphs reveal the truth.
As per The Pioneer website, the Congress never gave BR Ambedkar his due.
It adds that it is a known fact of history that Ambedkar had to get elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal with the support of Muslim league. Again, it was the Congress candidate who defeated him in the first General Elections from the North Bombay lok Sabha seat in 1952. This was repeated in 1954 when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru ensured his defeat in the by-election.
THE RELATION NEHRU AND AMBEDKAR SHARED
Another website Organiser is critical of the way Nehru treated Ambedkar because Nehru was of the opinion that Ambedkar was intellectually far superior to him and feared he would be relegated.
It is also mentioned that Nehru did not make a mention of Ambedkar in the index of his magnum opus Discovery of India written during the Indian Freedom Struggle.
It is said it was based on Mahatma Gandhiji’s insistence, Ambedkar was inducted into Nehru’s cabinet. But Ambedkar tendered his resignation based on two reasons: one was that he was not given important positions in important committees (Foreign Affairs Committee, or the Defence Committee) and two, Ambedkar was not happy with the way Nehru handled foreign affairs.
Lastly, as the PM said, Congress did not give Bharat Ratna to Ambedkar even though it ruled India for 60 years. It was only the Janata government which awarded Bharat Ratna to Ambedkar posthumously in 1990.
As per Prakash Ambedkar, B R Ambedkar’s grandson, “Let them (the Congress) explain what they have done to keep the legacy of Ambedkar alive when in power at the Centre and Maharashtra. Not a single book was republished. None of his writings that were kept under wraps has been made public. The greatest injustice ever done to Ambedkar when he was alive was by the Congress.”
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