Plans of installing a statue of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar appears to have pitted two groups of lawyers against one another at the Gwalior Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court for the last month, sparking protests and sit-in agitations on the premises. The dispute took yet another turn earlier this week, when a group of lawyers allegedly tried to block the site of the statue by hoisting the national flag there.
According to one group of lawyers, application to have a statue of Ambedkar installed in the premises was sent to the high court in February after which a committee to examine the request allowed it. Soon, the local public works department was enlisted and a sculptor was also paid Rs 2 lakh, one lawyer said.
However, objections to the move allegedly forced the committee was forced to review its decision although the registrar at Madhya Pradesh High Court, Yuval Raghuvanshi, passed an order allowing the statue. In a letter dated April 21, the registrar had recommended: “Since the statue of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, who is the maker of the Indian Constitution has already been installed in the Supreme Court of India, therefore, if a few advocates are opposing, we should ignore the same and work to be completed accordingly”.
Marking Constitution Day on November 26, 2023, President of India Droupadi Murmu unveiled a statue of BR Ambedkar at the Supreme Court premises in New .
Soon, however, a section of lawyers allegedly began objecting and refused to pay for the statue, which was scheduled to be installed on May 17. The situation, now simmering for nearly a month, allegedly came to a head Tuesday when the section of lawyers opposing the move hoisted a national flag at the appointed spot.
Videos of the incident purportedly showed some lawyers walking towards a platform and trying to hoist the national flag while a group of women dressed in blue oppose the move and some policemen try to calm frayed tempers. Soon, the first group of lawyers purportedly manage to hoist the flag amid chants of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, according to the video.
There are only 15-20 people who are opposing the move, advocate Vishwajit Ratonia, who is among the group of lawyers that wants the statue, claimed.
“The first question is in the temple of justice if Baba Saheb’s state is not installed then whose statue will be installed?” he asked, adding: “Most of the bar association members are with us”.
He also claimed that those opposing the move have been shifting goalposts since.
“They keep changing their reasons. First, they said they were against the statue. Then, they said they were against it because of lack of building permission. Then they said they were not taking into consideration. The court premises doesn’t belong to the bar association. Its owner is the high court,” he said.
Meanwhile, advocate Anil Mishra, who is among the lawyers opposing the statue, said the spot was a site for the national flag.
“Why should an Ambedkar statue be installed? Is this private property? Give me permission I will also bring 90 percent of the lawyers and will install a statue of Lord Ram. If you bring anti-social elements from outside, then there will be allegations of manhandling. If they want to keep the peace, then they should disperse,” he said, adding that the court had “never given permission to install the state of Ambedkar”.
After the flag was installed, Ratonia said he “welcomed” it but continued to call for the statue to be installed. “We had said that with the statue of Ambedkar, also install the national flag. However, there is already a national flag that has been installed. This is the second flag that has been installed [at the HC]. We welcome this,” he said.
