Jalandhar - After visiting Buddhist places across the country at Lucknow, Shravasti, Lumbini, Kushinagar, Vaishali, Patna, Rajgir, Nalanda, Bodhgaya, Varanasi, the Ambedkarite Buddhist NRI delegation reached Ambedkar Bhawan Jalandhar. The trustees of Ambedkar Bhawan Trust (Regd.) and members of Ambedkar Mission Society Punjab (Regd.) and All India Samta Sainik Dal (Regd.) Punjab Unit welcomed the delegation. Worshippers from UK, Canada, USA and Italy participated. The delegation included devotees Sarvashree Bishan Das Bains, Pyari Devi, Davinder Chandra, Devi Rani Chandra, Jarnail Singh Suman, Charan Kumari Suman, Dev Raj, Harvilas Bangar, Daulata Bali, Mrs. Balbir Bali and Manav Ajnath from UK, Mahendra Sallan, Sujata Sallan from Canada and Dr. Harjinder Kumar from America and Balwinder Jhammat from Italy.
All the devotees paid obeisance before the statue of Tathagata Buddha before the function began. Ambedkar Bhawan Trustee Harmesh Jassal started the function by offering Buddha Vandana, Trisharan, Panchsheel and introduced all the delegates. Trust General Secretary Dr. G. C. Kaul in his welcome speech said that Ambedkar Bhawan is a historical place where Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar came on 27 October 1951 and addressed lakhs of people. The land on which Ambedkar Bhawan has been built was purchased by Lahori Ram Bali, a renowned Ambedkarite and editor of Bhim Patrika, with the support of Seth Karamchand Bath. In 1972, Shri Bali Ji formed the Ambedkar Bhawan Trust and with the support of all the trustees, the buildings of the Bhawan have been constructed. Dr. Kaul said that this trust has very educated trustees including 4 PhD, 2 High Court Advocates, 1 DP I Colleges, 1 retired IAS Principal Secretary, a Post Graduate MS Doctor etc. In his address on this occasion, Shri Bishan Das Bains, former Mayor UK, while mentioning the active efforts made by a few families in England about 55 – 60 years ago, said; that in keeping the example of Ambedkar movement alive in the UK despite many ideological oppositions; Sarbshree Chanan Ram, President of the Republican Group of Great Britain, Kehru Ram and Malook Chand Ji, along with Sri Lahori Bali Ji, have made a special contribution to the Bhima Patrika published under the leadership of Sri Lahori Bali Ji.
He attributed the success of his mayoral election to the enlightened people there. He said that as a result of the continuous efforts of the Ambedkarites of the UK, today the ideology of Babasaheb and Buddhism are being spread and propagated in Europe, America and Canada. Mr. B. D. Bains also mentioned the current status of the historical places associated with Tathagata Buddha and Babasaheb in Nepal and India on behalf of the NRI delegation.
Mr. Davinder Chander, Chief Editor of ‘Samaj Weekly’ published from England, mentioning the historical perspective of Dr. Ambedkar and Tathagata Buddha in the UK; paid homage to the contribution of the struggling comrades belonging to the first generation of NRI Punjabis living there. He said that the freedom and equality based philosophy of England greatly influenced the workers of Punjab, as a result of which today they have made a lot of contribution in social service work here in Punjab after establishing themselves there. Mr. Davinder Ji also raised the issue of not properly maintaining most of the historical places related to Tathagata Buddha in India.
Referring to the information presented only in Hindi language at the Chaitya Bhoomi established in Mumbai related to Baba Saheb, he said that people from all over the world come to visit that holy place. Information should also be made available there in English language and trained guides should be appointed. He was of the opinion that regular trips should be made from Punjab as well as abroad to visit historical places related to Buddhism and Baba Saheb.
Dr. Harjinder Kumar, an NRI from USA and an active member of the ‘Dhamma Waves’ team broadcasted from Canada every week, highly praised the promotion and dissemination of the Ambedkar Mission by Ambedkar Bhawan and its trustees under the leadership of Shri Lahori Ram Bali Ji and said that it is only due to the tireless struggle of Baba Saheb throughout his life that our lives have changed after centuries.
Therefore, we should all adopt his ideology in our lives and dedicate ourselves to public welfare. At the end of the event, the Chairman of the Trust, Shri Sohan Lal, thanked the audience including the members of the NRI delegation and said that Baba Saheb’s visit to Punjab on 27 October 1951 is an important event in Dalit history. Ambedkar Bhawan Jalandhar is a historical symbol of that visit. The Ambedkar colleagues associated with the Bhawan have done a historic work of furthering Baba Saheb’s philosophy, wisdom and vision.
He said that all the colleagues associated with Ambedkar Bhawan and the Trust are striving with great honesty, dedication and hard work to spread the ideology of Baba Saheb and Tathagata Buddha. As a result of which Ambedkar Bhawan is becoming visible in this form. Finally, under the leadership of Chairman Shri Sohan Lal, all the members of the NRI delegation were honored by all the members of Ambedkar Bhawan Trust.
On this occasion, besides others, Sarb Shri Charan Das Sandhu, Dr. Surinder Ajnath, Baldev Raj Bhardwaj, Mahendra Sandhu, Jaswinder Waryana, Advocate Kuldeep Bhatti, Raj Kumar, Advocate Harbhajan Sampla, Gautam Boudh, Pichori Lal Sandhu, Malkit Singh, Roop Lal, Ram Nath Sunda, Pyara Singh Teji, Charanjit Singh Mattu, Ram Lal Das, Soma Sablok, Manju, Kavita Dhande, Harbhajan Nimta etc. were present. This information was given by Baldev Raj Bhardwaj, Finance Secretary of Ambedkar Bhawan Trust (Regd.), in a press statement.