‘Insignificant site’ for Ambedkar statue leads to protest at MDU

Rohtak, April 13

The installation of a statue of Dr BR Ambedkar on the campus of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) at Rohtak has sparked a controversy. The MDU administration has got his statue prepared for installation on the university campus.

However, Ambedkar Teachers Association (ATA), MDU, said the university administration wanted to get the statue installed at “an insignificant spot”.

“The university authorities had agreed to install the statue in front of the Faculty Development Centre (FDC), but they are now getting it installed in front of the MDU Teachers Association office, which is not a prominent spot on the campus,” said Prof Govind Singh, the president of the ATA.

The association members wore black badges to register their protest against the university authorities and warned to intensify their agitation if the administration did not accede to their demand.

“We had also approached prominent BJP leader and former Minister of State Manish Grover, who supported our demand and conveyed it to the university authorities, but they are still adamant on installing the statue at the same spot,” said a university teacher.

The ATA members have decided to boycott the installation ceremony.

MDU Registrar Gulshan Lal Taneja said the installation of the statue would be done as recommended by the committee constituted for the purpose. Asked about the university teachers maintaining that the committee constituted for the purpose had not given any recommendations, the Registrar said he would get the matter examined thoroughly.