Ambedkar House, London
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2020: UK Govt. clears museum proposal
A museum dedicated to Bhimrao Ambedkar situated at the north London house where he lived as a student from 1921to 1922 has been saved after the UK government approved an appeal by the Maharashtra government against its closure.
Communities secretary Robert Jenrick allowed the appeal on Thursday. He tweeted: “I was pleased to grant planning permission for a museum in London to Dr Ambedkar — one of the founding fathers of modern #India and an important figure to many British-Indians. I wish the museum every success.” By granting retrospective planning permission, the museum — bought by the Maharashtra state government in September 2015 at a cost of Rs 31 crore — will remain at its current site at 10 King Henry’s Road. It is the only museum dedicated to an Indian figure in London.
Jenrick, who is the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, also quashed the enforcement notice ordering the museum’s closure issued on November 16, 2018, for breach of planning control after the Maharashtra government converted two flats into a museum without the required planning permission.
PM Narendra Modi visited the house in 2015. It includes a gallery showing pictures of Ambedkar and related documents, a reading room where visitors can see and read Ambedkar’s literary works and a bedroom thought to have been used by him. There is a statue of Ambedkar in the garden. While allowing the appeal, Jenrick wrote that Ambedkar was “a major figure in Indian and British history” and the museum would provide cultural benefits and enhance tourism. ...”
