Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday announced that his government will install a 125-foot statue of BR Ambedkar in Amaravati to mark the Dalit icon's 125th birth anniversary, reported The New Indian Express. The government will also organise year-long celebrations to mark the occasion. The statue of Ambedkar, who had converted to Buddhism in 1935, is the latest among Naidu's plans to develop the new capital city as a tourist attraction centred around its ancient connection with the religion.

“We are planning to develop the memorial as a garden that will have a convention centre and a Buddhist meditation hall. We are also planning to set up a museum and a library to tell people about the great leader’s teachings,” Naidu said. He added that the state will organise an "Ambedkar Ideology Run", an Ambedkar Sports Meet and other programmes over the year, besides holding an anti-discrimination week to honour the leader. The government is also planning to translate all of Ambedkar's works into Telugu.