Vijayawada: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy will unveil the 125-feet tall statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar statue and throw open his memorial constructed at a cost of ₹400 crore coinciding with the grand Samatha Mahasabha public meeting on Friday, January 19, at 4 pm in Vijayawada.Social welfare minister Meruga Nagarjuna and Rajya Sabha MP V. Vijayasai Reddy said that more than 1.25 lakh people are expected to attend the Mahasabha, which will be followed by a laser show. The memorial and statue will be open to all from January 20.Vijayasai Reddy said the state government decided to install the 125-feet-tall statue of Ambedkar on a platform of 81 feet in order to promote the ideology of an equal society in which Dalits of the state live with self-respect.Nagarjuna said all Dalits in the state should be proud about the great memorial started by Jagan Mohan Reddy and people across the state belonging to various castes and religions should participate in the unveiling ceremony in large numbers. He underlined that no other state has such a big Ambedkar statue in the country.The minister declared that the state government is implementing many programmes for the social and economic development of Dalits, taking the Constitution written by great Ambedkar as the standard.Nagarjuna disclosed that Dalit intellectuals from different states of the country will participate in this grand programme.Vijayasai Reddy, Nagarjuna, special principal secretary (Municipal Administration) Y. Srilakshmi, Chief Minister’s Programmes coordinator Thalasila Raghuram, information commissioner T. Vijay Kumar Reddy, NTR district collector S. Delli Rao, Vijayawada police commissioner Kanti Rana Tata, MP Kesineni Srinivas alias Nani, Vijayawada Central and West constituencies MLAs Malladi Vishnuvardhan and Velampalli Srinivas, several leaders of Dalit communities and higher officials from various departments visited the Ambedkar statue in Swarajya Maidan in Vijayawada on Tuesday.They watched a short film to explain the life story of Ambedkar in a comprehensive manner at the theatre set up with the statue building premises.
Source link
