PM Modi likely to visit Ambedkar House

New Delhi: In a hugely symbolic move that is part of the dalit outreach, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may visit the “Ambedkar House” in London — the house where the architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr B.R. Ambedkar, stayed as a student there in the 1920s — when PM Modi visits Britain. Government sources said the visit was a possibility. The Ambedkar House was bought by the Mahara-shtra Government in 2015 at a cost of about 3 million pounds. The nation will also celebrate the birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar on April 14.

Meanwhile, during PM Modi’s upcoming visit to the UK next week, India may also sign an “updated” version with the UK of an earlier pact to take back illegal migrants from India, after due verification, who had entered the UK illegally.

Sources also indicated that PM Modi will not have any bilateral meeting in London with his Pakistani counterpart Shahid Khaqan Abbasi who will also be in London at the same time since both leaders will be participating in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit (CHOGM) there.

In a somewhat veiled criticism of Pakistan in the context of a reported rally recently in Peshawar by the ethic Pashtoon community, the MEA said the voices of Pakistan’s ethnic minorities should be represented in the decision-making process in the neighbouring country.

The comment comes even as Pakistan has stepped up its criticism of India on the Kashmir issue.