At Dadar, a colossus slowly rises

Ahead of Ambedkar Jayanti on April 14, HT took stock of the grand tribute to Dr BR Ambedkar being built on Mumbai’s waterfront

MUMBAI: Rising above the waters of the Arabian Sea off Mumbai’s west coast will be a towering tribute to Dr BR Ambedkar, a giant who shaped modern thought, steered the making of the Constitution, and led the movement for Dalits.

Mumbai, India. April 10, 2026 - The under-construction Dr Babasaheb memorial, located in the 12-acre Indu Mill compound at Dadar, Mumbai, features a 137.3-meter (450 ft) tall statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar on a 100-foot pedestal and includes a memorial complex with a Buddhist-style dome, a library, an auditorium, and a research centre. Mumbai, India. April 10, 2026. (Photo by Raju Shinde/HT Photo) (Raju Shinde)

The colossus – a 350-feet statue on a 100-feet pedestal – will be a bronze-clad likeness of Ambedkar called the ‘Statue of Equality’. It will anchor an entire complex on nearly 5 hectares of what was once mill land on