PM Modi today paid tributes to freedom fighter Babu Jagjivan Ram on his 115th birth anniversary
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today paid tributes to freedom fighter Babu Jagjivan Ram on his 115th birth anniversary and said that the nation will always remember the remarkable contribution of the veteran leader who was admired for his administrative skills and concern for the poor.
"Tributes to Babu Jagjivan Ram Ji on his birth anniversary. Our nation will always remember his remarkable contribution be it during the freedom movement or after Independence. He was widely admired for his administrative skills and concern for the poor," PM Modi tweeted.
Popularly known as Babuji, Jagjivan Ram was one of India's greatest Dalit icons, who fought for the rights of the underprivileged. Born in Bihar in 1908, Jagjivan Ram was a freedom fighter and served as a minister in governments led by Jawaharlal Nehru and later India Gandhi.
He quit the Congress to protest against Emergency and served as a Deputy Prime Minister in the Janata Party government between 1977 and 1979.
He was the Defence Minister during the India-Pakistan War in 1971.
Throughout his political career in in which he was a parliamentarian for a record 50 years, Jagjivan Ram strove for a just and egalitarian society.
During India's Independent movement, he founded the All-India Depressed Classes League in 1935 that worked towards equality for the 'untouchables'.