Ambedkar wanted Hyderabad as second capital

On the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanthi today, let us travel back into few of his thoughts on suggesting Hyderabad as the second capital of India.

Ambedkar raised the issue in his book titled “Thoughts of Linguistic States” which was published in 1950s. He dedicated an entire chapter in the book, to explain the necessity of the second capital.

Ambedkar asked, “Can India afford to have one capital? That we have one capital now does not close the question. If the capital is not satisfactorily located, now is the time for considering the question.”

Signifying the convenience of the people, Ambedkar opined that Delhi as a capital is far for the South Indians and even the weather conditions are different. Even North Indians cannot tolerate the Summer heat in Delhi. Apart from this, the city is within the bombing distance from the neighboring countries.

He ruled out Kolkata because of its proximity with Tibet and also Mumbai as unsafe due to its coastline. Ambedkar then stressed on making Hyderabad as the second capital, as the city is equidistant from all the directions of the country.

“Hyderabad-Secunderabad and Bolarum should be constituted into a chief commissioner’s province and made the second capital” Ambedkar said.

However, the things didn’t move forward for the various reasons and Delhi remained to be the only sole capital of the country.