MELBOURNE, 28 May 2022: Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s bust was unveiled today evening at the Australia India Institute (AII), Melbourne University amid pledges to carry forward his mission to uplift the downtrodden and the oppressed. Organized by the Dr. Ambedkar International Mission (AIM) Australia, the metal statue was garlanded in the presence of prominent people and community members.
Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served as Law and Justice Minister in the first cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru and inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement, Dr. Ambedkar’s statue unveiling took more than four years to take place. The statue was lying with the AII since 2018, and now rubs shoulders with the statues of filmmaker Satyajit Ray and Dr. Rabindranath Tagore just after the entry gate at the Barry Street, Carton office of the institute.
The plaque below the statue reads – ” Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar 14 April 1891 – 6th December 1956 (MA, Ph.D., MSc, DSc, Barrister-at-Law., L.L.D, D.Litt) – Economist, Sociologist, Great political, Indian jurist, Buddhist activist, Philosopher, Thinker, Anthropologist, Historian, Orator, Great constitutionalist, a great revolutionary, Bodhisattva, a Parliamentarian, prolific writer, and a social reformer. I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved. The bust was donated by Dr. Ambedkar International Mission (AIM) Australia to Australia India Institute (AII), The University of Melbourne, on 31 March 2018 on occasion of celebration of 127th birth anniversary of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.”
Prominent among those who addressed the gathering included leaders and activists of the AIM, academics, and supporters. The gathering included families who braved the cold weather honoring their icon as a tribute on his 131st birth anniversary.
