{"id":5888,"date":"2021-07-18T00:06:53","date_gmt":"2021-07-17T23:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalindianstories.com\/?p=5888"},"modified":"2021-07-20T00:18:56","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T23:18:56","slug":"grays-inn-in-london-unveils-the-ambedkar-room-and-a-new-portrait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalindianstories.org\/index.php\/2021\/07\/18\/grays-inn-in-london-unveils-the-ambedkar-room-and-a-new-portrait\/","title":{"rendered":"Gray\u2019s Inn in London unveils the Ambedkar Room and a new portrait"},"content":{"rendered":"

Master Ali Malek QC, Master Treasurer, Gray\u2019s Inn, unveiled the\u00a0Ambedkar Room<\/i>\u00a0at Gray\u2019s Inn on 30 June 2021, dedicated to Dr Ambedkar,\u00a0known internationally as an extraordinary academic, writer, politician, socio-political reformer, economist, and jurist. He also inspired the Buddhist movement in India.\u00a0<\/span>As the chief architect<\/span>\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span>India\u2019s Constitution, he abolished Untouchability, and secured social and fundamental legal rights and equality for its citizens.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Ambedkar Room<\/i>\u00a0will be used by barristers in training and as a meeting room and is the result of discussions over the years between Ms Santosh Dass MBE, President of the Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organisations UK (FABO UK) and Brigadier Anthony Harking OBE, Under Treasurer, at the Inn.<\/p>\n

Master Ali Malek QC unveiled a new portrait of Dr Ambedkar by Buckinghamshire-based artist David Newens. The portrait was donated by FABO UK for the\u00a0Ambedkar Room<\/i>\u00a0and was unveiled in presence of Sujat Ambedkar, Dr BR Ambedkar\u2019s great-grandson. The new portrait commissioned by FABO UK in 2020, is based on a photo of Dr Ambedkar taken for LIFE magazine in May 1946 by one of the most respected photojournalists of her time in America, Margaret Bourke-White (1904\u20131971).<\/span><\/p>\n

David Newens\u2019s portrait shows Dr Ambedkar in a relaxed mood on his veranda in his beloved garden at 26 Alipur Road, Civil Lines, Delhi. He stands in the summer sunshine with a hint of a smile with a cascade of magenta pink bougainvillea beside him.<\/p>\n

Arun Kumar and C Gautam, FABO UK, presented a copy of India’s Constitution to Master Ali Malek QC.\u00a0<\/span>Alumni of Gray\u2019s Inn, Ambedkarites, academics including Dr Suraj Yengde, and other distinguished guests took part at the reception hosted jointly by Gray\u2019s Inn and FABO UK. David Newens and the parliamentarian Lord David Alton of Liverpool also attended. Covid restrictions meant a larger event could not take place as originally planned.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

Dr Ambedkar at Gray\u2019s Inn<\/span><\/b><\/h4>\n

As<\/span>\u00a0India\u2019s Minister of Labour under the Viceroy\u2019s Executive Council, between 1942 and 1946,\u00a0Dr. Bhimrao R. Ambedkar (14 April 1891\u20136 December 1956) <\/span> secured significant legal protections for workers including a reduction in factory working hours, compulsory recognition by employers of Trade Unions, a requirement for settlement of industrial disputes and a minimum wage. He also secured maternity benefits and equal pay for equal work for working women. He was independent India\u2019s first Minister of Law and Justice. With the Hindu Code Bill, he helped pioneer reforms that abolished polygamy, gave women the right to divorce, and the right to inherit property.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr Ambedkar spent two periods study at Gray\u2019s Inn whilst also studying at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The first stint was from October 1916 to July 1917 \u2013 straight after he had completed his studies at Columbia University. Unfortunately, his studies in London were cut short when the\u00a0Diwan<\/i>\u00a0(\u2018Minister\u2019) of the State of Baroda (present-day Gujarat) recalled Dr Ambedkar to India because his scholarship had ended. The second stint began when Dr Ambedkar returned to London in July 1920. This time he relied on his savings, supplemented by loans. He was called at the Inn in June 1922.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two portraits of Dr Ambedkar already hang at the Inn. The Ambedkar Memorial Committee of GB donated the first one in 1974. The Government of India donated the second in 2016 to mark Dr Ambedkar\u2019s 125th birth anniversary.\u00a0The 2016 portrait features on the back cover of Gray\u2019s Inn book\u00a0An Illustrated History of Gray\u2019s Inn\u00a0<\/i>(2018) alongside the portraits of eleven other distinguished alumnus of the Inn. A short biography\u00a0Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar and the Indian Constitution<\/i>\u2019 under 1947 is contained in the same publication.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is an Indian bean tree (Catalpa bignonioides<\/i>) in\u00a0The Walks<\/i>\u00a0dedicated to Dr. Ambedkar. The then-High Commissioner of India to the UK, Mr L. M. Singhvi donated to the Inn in 1997.<\/p>\n

In 1991 one of the Ambedkar Centenary Celebrations Committee\u2019s receptions under the auspicious of FABO UK was held at Gray\u2019s Inn. Lord Goff of Chieveley called Dr Ambedkar the \u201cMoses of India\u201d. Mr Anthony Scrivener, Chairman of the Bar said: \u201cTo honour Dr Ambedkar is to honour the importance of dignity of each human life, for it was he who fought for equality for the under privileged, for the poor and for the forgotten.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n

The Gray\u2019s inn scenes in Jabber Patel\u2019s 2000 film\u00a0Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar<\/i>\u00a0were filmed at the Inn and FABO UK supported this. The\u00a0Ambedkar Room<\/i>\u00a0unveiled on 30 June 2021 is the culmination of Gray\u2019s Inn and FABO UK working together for a number of years on ways to\u00a0raise the profile of Dr. Ambedkar at Gray\u2019s Inn, and more generally in Britain.<\/p>\n

The new portrait commissioned and donated by the FABO UK by David Newens based on a 1946 photo by the American photojournalist, Margaret Bourke-White now hangs in the\u00a0Ambedkar Room<\/i>\u00a0at Gray\u2019s Inn.<\/p>\n

Ambedkar Museum London\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n

On 2 September 2014, FABO UK wrote to the then-Government of Maharashtra (GOM) with a proposal that they fund the purchase 10 King Henry\u2019s Road, NW3 3RP where Dr Ambedkar lived in the 1920s, and turn it into a memorial. The house was bought by GOM a year later after intense lobbying. In March 2020, following a Public Inquiry in 2019, it was agreed this house \u2013 known as the Ambedkar House London since September 2015 \u2013could have museum status. The museum is open to the public.\u00a0<\/span>For more information please contact:<\/em>\u00a0<\/b><\/span>Santosh Dass MBE, President, FABO UK on +44 7902 806342 or\u00a0Sam Hutchinson, Chief of Staff, Gray\u2019s Inn on +44 207 458 7981<\/span><\/p>\n

Remembering Dr Ambedkar\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Master Ali Malek QC said:\u00a0<\/b>Today we proudly celebrate the connection Dr B. R. Ambedkar had to Gray\u2019s Inn. He could not have known that over half a century after his passing, his portraits would grace his Inn, that the Walks would boast a tree dedicated in his name, and people would gather to dedicate a room to his memory. Even for a man of his talents, that may have seemed too much \u2013 but one does not shape a nation in the way he did without the capacity to dream. Dr Ambedkar was an agent for change. From today, he will be woven much deeper into the fabric of his Inn, reminding us that no challenge is insurmountable and that the law can be a vehicle for social evolution that may previously have been considered impossible. Today I am honoured to unveil the\u00a0Ambedkar Room<\/i>\u00a0and the graceful new portrait donated to the Inn by the Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organisations UK.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms Santosh Dass MBE said:\u00a0<\/b>For a number of years The\u00a0Honourable\u00a0Society of Gray\u2019s Inn and I discussed ways in which we could raise the profile of Dr. Ambedkar at Gray\u2019s Inn. Dr. Ambedkar was one of most educated people of his generation with degrees from India, America and Britain.\u00a0<\/span>He was a politician, socio-political reformer, economist, jurist and prolific writer. He inspired the Buddhist movement in India and was\u00a0<\/span>the chief architect<\/span>\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span>India\u2019s Constitution. It is therefore demeaning when he is merely reduced to a leader of the \u2018Untouchables\u2019. He was much, much more than that. Dr. Ambedkar ought to be part of the British school curriculum. The social and economic reforms he passionately steered have\u00a0<\/span>helped change the lives of millions of people for the better.<\/span>\u00a0Dr Ambedkar believed in good and fair laws. He believed in secular society. We can imagine his outrage at the draconian laws that are being liberally used by the Indian Government now to incarcerate without bail, academics (including Dr Anand Teltumbde), human rights activists who raise their voice against atrocities against minorities or corruption, and the lawyers who defend them. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I am confident the new\u00a0Ambedkar Room<\/i>\u00a0and the new portrait donated today by FABO UK will arouse legal students\u2019 curiosity to look into, and learn about Dr. Ambedkar\u2019s accomplishments. I would like to thank Under Treasurer, Brigadier Anthony Harking OBE for his unswerving support and the many hours of discussion we have had over the years that have made the\u00a0Ambedkar Room<\/i>\u00a0possible.\u00a0This is a great honour for all Ambedkarites around the world.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\r\n