17 Apr 2016

Great men do not die because their legacy lives on,  according to Assistant Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Advocate Sadique Kebonang.

He was speaking at the celebration of 125th birthday anniversary of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar who was the principal architect of the constitution of India in Gaborone.

Advocate Kebonang said great men and women of Dr Ambedkar’s caliber lived on for centuries.

He said for someone like Dr Ambedkar, having managed to craft an instrumental constitution of a big country such as India, showed that the person was extraordinary and well gifted for doing such a special job and said his constitution was still being used to date.

The assistant minister said law was the foundation of justice, hence crafting of the constitution in the 1940s was not an easy task, but for Dr Ambedkar was as work as usual despite the fact that technology was not there for research and references  purposes.

In his address, Indian High Commissioner, Dr Ketan Shukla said the celebrations of the legend’s birthday is a big even which he said do not qualify his status to be speaking about him, and said it needed someone older than him as he/she would talk more about what transpired during Dr Ambedkar era.

He said Dr Ambedkar was a prolific student, earning a law degree and various doctorates from Columbia University and the London School of Economics and gained a reputation as a scholar for his research in law, economics and political science.

Dr Shukla said Dr Ambedkar legacy as a socio-political reformer, had a deep effect on modern India and said in post-independence India, his socio-political thought is respected across the political spectrum.

The high commissioner said his reputation as a scholar led to his appointment as free India’s first law minister, and chairman of the committee for drafting the constitution.

Still at the celebration, the India Botswana Chamber of Commerce and Industry donated P10 000 to the Sir Seretse Khama Memorial Fund.  ENDS