Athawale slams VBA chief for opposing B R Ambedkar memorial

Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Sunday criticised Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) leader Prakash Ambedkarfor opposing the proposed memorial of his grandfather and Dalit icon B R Ambedkar in Mumbai.

Prakash Ambedkar suggested on Saturday that theBombay High Courtask theMaharashtragovernment to utilise funds sanctioned for the proposed statue of B R Ambedkar for improvement of Wadia hospitals for women and children instead.

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi(MVA) government had on Wednesday approved a proposal to raise the height of the proposed statue of the Dalit icon by 100 feet and cleared the revised expenditure of Rs 1089.95 crore for the memorial project, which will come up on the premises of now-defunt Indu Mills in central Mumbai.

"Followers of B R Ambedkar want the Statue of Equality to come up at Indu Mills. What Prakash Ambedkar is saying is an insult of the Ambedkar followers. What kind of grandson is he (of B R Ambedkar)?" the minister asked.

He, however, said Wadia hospitals should be given funds.