Congress neglected B.R. Ambedkar, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday criticised the Congress party for neglecting the principal architect of the Constitution of India, B.R. Ambedkar by not putting his picture in the Parliament, as the latter's picture was only put after a non-Congress government came to power.

"I want to ask why the principal architect of the Constitution of India, B.R. Ambedkar's picture was not put in Parliament by the Congress' regime. The picture of Ambedkar was put only after a non-Congress government came to power in 1990. The world knows Martin Luther King, but it is very unfortunate that they do not know Ambedkar. Babasaheb Ambedkar is an inspiration not just for one community, but for the entire world. The father of the Indian Constitution was not even honoured with a Bharat Ratna. "They (the Congress) couldn't accept the son of a Dalit," PM Modi said after laying the foundation stone for two new Metro lines at the MMRDA grounds in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) here.

Prime Minister Modi also said that the country cannot move forward by neglecting the Dalit and other backward communities and appealed to the political parties to abstain from exploiting them for petty political gains.

"I have seen poverty, and this country cannot move forward by neglecting Dalits and people from backward communities. I want to tell the political parties not to play politics over poverty and backward communities for their benefit,"

Prime Minister Modi hailed the Devendra Fadnavis Government for its effort to fight drought in Maharashtra.

"We still lack technology to provide proper irrigation facility to our farmers. They are dependent on rains. If there is no rain, the farmers will lose everything. Fadnavis has initiated a unique way to overcome drought. In more than 6,000 villages, over one lakh 'jal sanchay' (water conservators) have been set up for the benefit of the farmers, which came at a cost of Rs 1,400 crore," PM Modi said.

Prime Minister Modi is on a day visit to the financial capital Mumbai, where he laid the foundation stone of a fourth container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and also of the Dr B. R. Ambedkar memorial on the Indu Mills compound before laying the foundation stone for two new Metro lines.