Jairam Ramesh remembers Babasaheb Ambedkar on 'Dhammachakra Pravartan Din', invokes history

New Delhi [India], October 14 (ANI): Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday remembered Babasaheb Ambedkar on the occasion of Dhammachakra Pravartan Din, which is celebrated on October 14 each year to commemorate the mass conversion of India's first Law Minister and his lakhs of followers to Buddhism, renouncing Hinduism.
Dr Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, along with his second wife, Savita Ambedkar, converted to Buddhism at Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur and administered 22 vows that he had prepared.
"India celebrated the 2500th anniversary of the Buddha's birth in 1956. It was also on October 14, 1956, that Dr Ambedkar and his wife Dr Savita Ambedkar were formally initiated into Buddhism by the Burmese monk Bhikku Chandiramani in Nagpur. Thereafter, the prime architect of the Indian Constitution offered deeksha to about half a million people assembled at what has come to be greatly revered as Deekshabhumi and also administered them 22 revolutionary oaths prepared by himself," Ramesh posted on X.
Ramesh informed that it was Wamanrao Godbole of the Bharatiya Bauddha Jana Samithi who played a crucial role in selecting Nagpur as the site for the conversion to Buddhism. Godbole was the general secretary of the organising committee that facilitated the world's largest religious conversion movement in 1956.
Referring to Dr Ambedkar's biography authored by researcher Ashok Gopal, titled 'A Part Apart: The Life and Thought of BR Ambedkar', Ramesh said that it was only in 1950 that Babasaheb spoke of conversion to Buddhism in public meetings regularly.
"Ashok Gopal's masterly biography A Part Apart: The Life and Thought of BR Ambedkar that appeared two years back offers many new and compelling insights into this historic event of October 14, 1956. Dr Ambedkar's fascination with the life of the Buddha was almost half a century old but it was only in 1950 that he spoke of his conversion into Buddhism in public meetings regularly. In February 1956, the name of the periodical of the Ambedkarite movement was changed from Janata to Prabuddha Bharat," Ramesh said.
"Wamanrao Godbole of the Bharatiya Bauddha Jana Samithi played a key role in the selection of Nagpur as the site for the conversion. Sunday, October 14, 1956 was chosen, as RD Bhandare had explained fifteen days earlier, since Vijayadashmi fell on that day and Ashoka had observed it as his day of victory," he added.
The Congress leader further stated that Babasaheb Ambedkar passed away six days after his return from Kathmandu, where he delivered one of his iconic talks on 'Buddha or Karl Marx' at the Fourth Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists.
"A month later, Dr Ambedkar gave a talk to the World Federation of Buddhists (sic) in Kathmandu on Buddha or Karl Marx. He returned to New Delhi via Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, and Sarnath. Six days after he was back, Dr Ambedkar sadly passed away. His highly original book born out of decades of study called 'The Buddha and His Dhamma' - for which he had written the Preface just a few hours before his demise - appeared in early Jan 1957," Ramesh said. (ANI)