One of the things that was most noticeable on my recent tour in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh was the respect which Dr B.R. Ambedkar is held in throughout these states. Everywhere we went, in cities, towns and villages, we saw statues of Dr Ambedkar and other memorials to him.
In Hyderabad the new State Secetariat was completed in 2022, and the building has been officially named as the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Telangana State Secetariat. Also in Hyderabad, Dr Ambedkar’s statue is the 5th largest in India.
The fourth largest statue in India at present is the Statue of Social Justice in Vijayawada, which is a memorial to Dr Ambedkar, and besides the iconic statue, it has a pollanade with 36 reliefs outlining his life. Inside the building, on the ground floor, is a multi-media presentation of his life. And plans are underway to expand the complex.
We also stayed for around 4 days at the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Bhavan in Visakhapatnam, which we used as our base for exploring the nearby sites. I also managed to photograph some of the statues there.
The impression I came away with is that he is the most respected politician and social reformer in these states, much more popular than Gandhi for instance, and the centrality of his message and works is seen as a model for good governance.
