Congress to celebrate Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary

The Congress will start year-long celebration of B.R. Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary from his birth place Mhow in what is now Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.

The decision was taken by a "celebration committee" of the party chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi that met here on Monday.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh and senior Congress leaders A.K. Antony, Mallikarjun Kharge and Sushil Kumar Shinde also attended the meeting at met at Gandhi's 10, Janpath residence of Gandhi.

The celebrations will conclude on April 14, 2016 in Nagpur.

K. Raju, convener of Babasaheb B.R. Ambedkar's 125th Birth Anniversary Celebrations Committee, said the message Congress intends to send across is Ambedkar worked in close partnership with Congress leaders and shaped the Indian constitution.

"This is the message Congress would like to highlight because there is a lot of misinformation that is going on and there is lot of misrepresentation of facts. The Congress would like to set the record straight as to how the party has facilitated his entry to the constituent assembly and how he worked closely with the Congress leaders," Raju said.

He also said the Congress would like to portray Ambedkar "not as a dalit leader but as a statesman and as someone who fought for social justice".

The Congress has been often accused by opposing parties, specially the BJP, for ignoring the legacy of leaders other than those from the Nehru-Gandhi family.