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| Special issues of Ambedkar Times and Desh Doaba released |
It was a great event to pay tributes to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Educational and Welfare Trust, Randhawa Masandan, a prominent
and progressive village in the periphery of Jalandhar, celebrated the birth
anniversary (April 14) on April 26, 2015 and organized a grand missionary mela
and a seminar on the life and mission of the great leader. It may not be out of
place to assume that the motivation behind this well organized function must be
the great community activist and missionary poet and lyricist Rattu Randhawa
who is a native of the village. Ram Murti Mal, a retired Telecom Divisional
Engineer, one of the leading organizers and his associates, did a good job and
must be complimented and appreciated as it requires a lot of planning and
effort.
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| Paramjit Mahey being honoured |
My brother Paramjit Mahey who himself is quite active in such
community matters persuaded me to join him at the function. I turned out to be
a good experience. Not only did the organizers honour and recognize me but also
gave me an opportunity to speak and pay my humble tributes to Babasaheb
Ambedkar. It was an honour which I fully relished with gratefulness. My friend Dr.
Gian Chand Kaul was the Chief Guest and rightly so. The function was attended
by many intellectuals and community leaders namely Advocate S.L. Virdi, Engineer
Jaswant Rai, Prof. Kuldeep Sodhi, Assistant Registrar Sandeep Mehmi, SDO
Raghubir Singh among others. All the speakers spoke with conviction and paid
glowing tributes to Dr. Ambedkar.
The second aspect of the function was even more praiseworthy
and commendable. The cream of dalit writers, poets and lyricists of Punjab and
also some established and up-coming missionary singers and performers regaled
the dedicated audience with their poems, songs and compositions. It must be a
rare occasion where the likes of Rattu Randhawa, Chan Goryanwala, Sohan Sehjal,
Madan Jallandhari among others might have graced the occasion at one go. Similarly,
it must be a special opportunity to see and listen to the singers of the first
genre on one stage. They were, inter alia, Joginder Dukhia, Surinder Laddi, Dalvinder
Dyalpuri, Roop Lal Dhir, Ginni Mahi, Prem Lata, Dalbir Haripuria, Bhottu Shah
and many more. Some of the known Punjabi comedians led by Bhottu Shah provided
the much needed comic relief with their jokes and comedy in the hot and sultry
weather.
The book “Mann Ki Katiyae Mael”, anthology of religions,
written by Mal Singh and the Special issues of Ambedkar Times and Desh Doaba,
periodicals published from California (USA) by Prem Chumber were also released
at the function.
It is gratifying to say that there is no regret. I enjoyed
the programme fully. The underlying current of the speeches and poetic
renditions were that of dalit unity to meet the challenges of the future. It
will be a big tribute to the memory of the great leader Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
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