BSO Sabotaging 26-Alipur Road “National” Memorial For Babasaheb

To liberate the No.26-Alipur Road building in Old Delhi and convert the same into a “national” memorial we have formed a Babasaheb Ambedkar Memorial Action Council. This building is a sacred place for all Dalits/ Budhists and those who believe in democracy. After resigning as Law Minister, Babasaheb shifted his residence from No.1 Tilak Marg, New Delhi, to 26-Alipur Road, Delhi. Babasaheb started his religious movement as well as wrote his book, Buddha & His Dhamma, at this residence and died on Dec.6, 1956 after his historical conversion into Budhism at Nagpur on Oct. 14, 1956. Every one was under the impression that this bungalow belonged to Babasaheb himself. His widow, Savita Ambedkar, had lived in the bungalow for a long time and after she vacated the bungalow, a Muslim property, it was taken over by the Custodian of Properties of the Govt. of India who auctioned the same to an industrialist, M/s. Jindal Aluminium Company. We learnt this only when he started constructing a big bungalow. Immediately, we in the capital formed an action committee in 1993. Earlier the Delhi State Republican Party had staged a dharna before the residence of the then Minister for Welfare, Sitaram Kesri, on Oct. 19, 1992. Kesri assured us that the govt. would construct a “national” memorial on 26-Alipur Rd. On Oct. 21, 1992 the govt. wrote a DO letter to the Delhi Administration, Delhi, conveying this decision. Though the Govt. of India had fixed the target date of April 14, 1992, the Delhi Administration went on delaying action. R.S. Gavai, RPI president, met the then Prime Minister, I.K. Gujral, and got a cheque for Rs. 7.12 crores and gave it to the Delhi Govt, on March 27, 1997 to enable them to pay compensation to the owner. The matter was again delayed. Both the Govts. Central and the Delhi Govt. have been fooling millions of the followers of Babasaheb. So, the Action Council at its meeting here on June 11, 2000, Advocate Guru Dayal presiding, condemned the both the govts. and decided to approach all Dalit organisations to join us in our agitation.