Bharat Ratna to Teresa ahead of Ambedkar matter of pain: RSS leader

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Tuesday launched its efforts to 'rescue' B R Ambedkar from being "merely" a Dalit icon to a leader of all Hindus, with Sangh Sarkaryavah (General Secretary) Suresh Bhaiyaji Joshi stating that it was a matter of great pain that "somebody like" Mother Teresa was conferred with the Bharat Ratna a decade before Ambedkar.

Teresa was given the highest civilian honour in 1980, while Ambedkar was conferred the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1990 by the VP Singh government.

Joshi’s comments on Teresa, made at the launch of special supplements of RSS mouthpiece Organiser and Panchjanya on Ambedkar on his 125th birth anniversary in the city, are sure to some controversy.

But more surprising was the presence of Narendra Jadhav on the dais. Jadhav has penned nearly a dozen books in Marathi and English on Ambedkar. Incidentally, Jadhav was also the member of Congress President Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council until the fag end of the United Progressive Alliance-II.