New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of a state of the art memorial to B R Ambedkar here next month. The three-storeyed memorial spread over 1.85 acres on Alipur Road in north Delhi will be in the shape of an open Constitution with a dome in the middle.
Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution, had breathed his last at 26, Alipur Road, and the place is considered sacred by his followers.
"The memorial would house relics of Dr Ambedkar, a photo gallery covering all important aspects of his life and work, Bodhisattva Bhim Jyoti, Bodhisattva Bhim Stambha, Boddhivriksha, replicas of Bhim Janambhoomi (Mhow), Deeksha Bhoomi (Nagpur), and Rajgraha and Chatiya Bhoomi (Mumbai).
"It (the memorial) will also have a meditation hall, an audio-visual wing, information centre and so on," said a senior official from the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry.
The design of the building has been approved by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Government is also constructing a B R Ambedkar International Centre on Janpath the foundation stone of which was laid in May last year.
The Union government is celebrating 125th birth anniversary year of B R Ambedkar since the year 2015. The objective of year-long celebration is to make the world aware of the life and the work of the legendary social reformer and a champion of the underprivileged.
Also, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has decided to create a web portal which will have the complete works of Ambedkar.
The portal www.DrAmbedkarwritings.gov.in, which will have collected works of Ambedkar in English and Marathi along with the translation of his works in nine other languages including Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Malyalam, Bengali, Gujarati and Odiya, is likely to be launched by Modi next month.
The government is also planning to organise events at Ambedkar's house in London where a memorial was inaugurated by Modi during his UK visit last November.
