Prof. Arun Agarwal, Pro Vice-Chancellor-1, Prof. P Prakash Babu, Pro Vice-Chancellor-2, Shri P. Sardar Singh, Registrar and other officials and staff of the University of Hyderabad paid floral tributes to Babu Jagjivan Ram on his birth anniversary on 5th April 2019 at the University Administration Building.
Speaking on the occasion Prof. Arun Agarwal said, “Babu Jagjivan Ram was a great freedom fighter and social reformer of this country. Throughout his life, he worked hard for upliftment of human dignity and freedom. All of us must realise and respect the contributions of Babu Jagjivan Ram towards our society and upliftment of the downtrodden and marginalized community of the country”.
Jagjivan Ram, known popularly as Babuji, was a freedom fighter and a social activist from Bihar. He was instrumental in the foundation of the All-India Depressed Classes League, an organisation dedicated to attaining equality for untouchables, in 1935 and was elected to Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1937, after which he organised the rural labour movement. Babu Jagjivan Ram was the Deputy Prime Minister in the first non-Congress government of India. His struggle for social justice is one of the main reasons why he is respected even today. In his political career, Babuji has been Union Minister for more than four decades, handling varied portfolios like Defence, Agriculture, Irrigation and Railways. He also played an important role in India’s victory during the 1971 war which subsequently led to bifurcation of Pakistan and birth of Bangladesh.