A museum dedicated to Bhimrao Ambedkar situated at the north London house where he lived from 1921 to 1922 whilst a student has been saved after the UK government approved an appeal by the Maharashtra state 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 by Camden Council on 16 November 2018 for breach of planning control after the Maharashtra government had converted two flats into a museum without the required planning permission.(Jenrick overturns enforcement notice preventing conversion of London homes into museum for Indian ‘national hero’)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the house in 2015. It includes a gallery showing pictures of Dr. Ambedkar and related documents, a reading room where visitor can see and read Dr. Ambedkar’s literary works and a bedroom thought to have been used by Dr. Ambedkar. There is a statue of Dr. Ambedkar in the garden.
While allowing the appeal, Jenrick wrote that Dr. Ambedkar was “”a major figure in Indian and British history” and the museum would provide cultural benefits and enhance tourism. This matched the recommendation by planning inspector K L Williams who wrote that the museum “is likely to be of particular interest to the substantial Indian diaspora in this country. It is also of wider interest in the context of Dr. Ambedkar’s role in India leaving the British Empire and becoming independent… There is likely to be scope for the museum to have educational value. A strong personal and spiritual link between No. 10 and Dr. Ambedkar is widely perceived.”
The majority of planning appeals in England are decided by inspectors, and it is rare for the communities secretary to step in, unless a development is large or controversial. But last year, Jenrick said he was recovering the appeal for determination by the central government “given the exceptional importance of Dr. Ambedkar in the story of the creation of modern India, and the lasting contribution of the British –Indian community on the shared cultural heritage of our country. Rather than taking the decision himself, Williams prepared a report and recommendation.
The report reveals that Camden Council argued that the Indian icon’s association with the house was “fleeting” and whilst living there, he was studying at the London School of Economics (LSE) “rather than being engaged in the human rights work for which he is famed”. The council said the exhibits at Ambedkar house are “limited in extent and quality” and do not tell the story of Dr.Ambedkar’s time there “coherently”.
“He was not of national importance in the UK”, the council added, suggesting LSE as a better location.
The appellant rebutted this saying that Dr. Ambedkar “lived at No.10 during a formative period in his studies and his thinking, a period which influenced his later social and political actions. Much of his studying would have been done at No.10. While at No.10 he was working on his thesis ‘The problem of Rupee’, which was later influential in the setting up of the Reserve Bank of India. The LSE would be inappropriate for a museum. He did not live there and no part of it had a personal link to him”.
