india

Updated: Apr 14, 2020 10:15 IST

JP Nadda, the BJP’s president, on Tuesday accused the Congress of not giving the respect BR Ambedkar deserved when he was alive and said his party has been working towards filling that gap as he paid his respects on the birth anniversary of the leader.

“It was unfortunate that the Congress party, which was in power with a majority then, did not give the respect Baba Saheb deserved. It was unfortunate that Bharat Ratna was conferred upon him four decades after his death,” Nadda said in this address to the party’s workers.

BR Ambedkar—one of the principal architects of the Constitution—was posthumously given the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, in 1990.

The senior leader pointed out that when the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power, BR Ambedkar was accorded the respect he deserved.

“The BJP has been making a systematic effort to make his resolutions a reality,” he said.

In his message, Nadda also said party workers should take a pledge to uphold the ideals of the Constitution and obey the government’s advisories to fight Covid-19. He also requested them to share and spread the measures and decisions taken by the government, party and its leaders for the poor of society on social media.

BJP workers will mark the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar by distributing ration and masks among the poor on Tuesday, the party’s media in-charge Anil Baluni has said.

They will organise blood donation camps following social distancing norms to mark the birth anniversary of Ambedkar, he said.

BJP workers will distribute masks and provide rations to all people in at least two slums of their areas, he said, adding they will also motivate people in slums to keep their area free from the virus, he said.

A social reformer, jurist, economist, BR Ambedkar was also India’s first law minister.