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Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) commemorated the 134th birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar with a week-long program, ‘Bheem-Saptah,’ celebrating the theme ‘Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: The Academician’.
The commemorative series concluded with a special address by Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, former Rajya Sabha member and Chairman of the Standing Council for Education, Women, Youth & Sports. Lauding the initiative, Dr. Sahasrabuddhe appreciated the efforts of JNU V-C Prof. Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit “in organizing an innovative program to set up a discourse on Ambedkar in JNU.”
The concluding ceremony began with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp and floral tributes at Babasaheb Ambedkar’s portrait, attended by a large gathering of students, faculty, non-teaching staff, and their families.
Throughout the week, the campus hosted a wide range of academic and cultural events, including essay competitions, research symposiums and seminars involving young and senior faculty members from Delhi’s universities and colleges.
Dr. Sahasrabuddhe personally distributed certificates to the students who took part in the essay competition. In his concluding speech, he honored Dr. Ambedkar’s courage and vision, recalling how he “worked tirelessly to establish an egalitarian society”, and also how former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee renamed the Welfare Ministry to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, in alignment with Babasaheb’s ideals of establishing social justice for the excluded and subjugated people.
He also lamented how Ambedkar’s legacy was “reduced to him only being remembered as a Dalit leader” and stressed the need to “deconstruct this practice and treat him as a national leader” who worked for every individual in the country.
Highlighting Ambedkar’s intellectual versatility, Dr. Sahasrabuddhe added that Babasaheb emulated leaders of his time like Gandhi and Tilak — he was a barrister, ran five newspapers, and established an educational society and college.
The event concluded with a vote of thanks and the singing of the national anthem.
