Lokmat News Network
Aurangabad, April 14:
Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s statue at Bhadkal Gate has enormous importance in the history of Ambedkarite Movement in the city. Every year, lakhs of followers of Dr Ambedkar gather and pay him tribute on his birth and death anniversaries. Bhadkal Gate was the centre of Ambedkarite movements in Aurangabad. The statue of Dr Ambedkar here has witnessed these movements and the most important was the renaming of Marathwada University.
Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) sources said, before the establishment of the AMC, there was a half-size statue at Bhadkal Gate. There was a garden, in which, a bust of Dr Ambedkar was situated in the middle. The corporation was established in 1982. Soon after the establishment, a life-size statue was erected in place of the bust in 1983 during the tenure of municipal commissioner Satish Tripathi.
In 1991, the beautification of the statue area was done. The beautification was inaugurated by Bhante Mahathero Pradhnyanand while divisional commissioner B N Makhiya presided. The guests of honour were Mayor Pradeep Jaiswal, municipal commissioner Munshilal Gautam, deputy mayor Mujeeb Khan and standing committee chairman Ratankumar Pandagale.
In 2013, the Bhadkal Gate square was divided into two roads and the statue was beautified with the establishment of an island surrounding the statue, which we can see today. The inauguration was done by MP Chandrakant Khaire. The guests of honour were the then school education minister Rajendra Darda, mayor Kala Ojha, MLA Pradeep Jaiswal, MLA Sanjay Shirsath, MLC Kishanchand Tanwani, MLC Satish Chavan and MLC M M Shaikh.
Recently, the old statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was replaced with a new one at Kranti Chowk. Along with the renovation of this statue, there was a proposal to renovate and elevate the height of Dr Ambedkar’s statue at Bhadkal Gate, but it is still pending, the residents said.
Principal Dr Vaishali Pradhan, a resident of the Bhadkal Gate area said, as a child, she remembers a bust of Dr Ambedkar at Bhadkal Gate. This was the place where meetings and cultural programmes were held. The renaming of Marathwada University was the major movement at that time and several meetings of the Ambedkarites leaders were organised here. She remembers a cultural programme of the greatest poet Vamandada Kardak during this period here, Dr Pradhan said.