Prakash Ambedkar hopes Telangana will demand Hyderabad as second capital

Hyderabad: Dr B. R. Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar on Friday hoped that the Telangana government will demand making Hyderabad the second capital of India, as was mooted by the chief architect of the Indian Constitution.

He said during debates of the Constituent Assembly when the question of India’s security came up, Babasaheb Ambedkar had underlined the need for the country to have another capital and had suggested Hyderabad as the second capital.

The former MP was addressing a public meeting after the unveiling of the 125-feet statue of Ambedkar in Hyderabad by Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

“Since Delhi is only 300 kms from the Pakistan border and 500 kms from the China border, Babsaheb felt that unless the country has a second capital, it will not be secured,” he said and hoped that Telangana would make the demand.

Prakash Ambedkar, who earlier visited Huzurabad to see implementation of Dalit Bandhu scheme, was all praise for KCR government for launching the scheme saying this would go a long way in removing economic inequalities and poverty eradication.

Under Dalit Bandhu scheme, the state government is providing Rs 10 lakh to every Dalit family to help it start any business of its choice.

He, however, suggested to the government to ensure that the value of this Rs 10 lakh is maintained even after one year.

“Babasaheb used to say unless we stabilise the value of rupee, there will be no poverty eradication,” he said and called for price stability.

Prakash Ambedkar said that small states like Telangana can have the concept of welfare state. He pointed out that Babasaheb Ambedkar had made it clear in 1956 that reorganization of states should not be on the basis of language. “He had said while reorganising the states you have to see economic viability, geographical boundaries and whether they can become good administrative units.”

Decrying the attempts to turn the country into a theocratic state, he recalled the words of Babasaheb Ambedkar that in the politics of religion and caste, the first casualty will be the national leader. “There will be no national leader,” he said and claimed that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the last national leader who went against his own party.

Stating that the state leaders have a chance to become national leaders, he hoped that people of Telangana will show the way to the country by extending their support to KCR.