Silver jubilee of Valluvar statue in Kanyakumari

Chennai:The silver jubilee of the installation of the 133 feet high statue of Tamil poet savant Thiruvalluvar on a rock off the coast of Kanyakumari will be celebrated in a grand manner with Chief Minister M K Stalin participating in it and the government conducting several competition for school and college students to celebrate Thiruvallvur’s poetic genius and philosophy.

In a video speech on Tuesday announcing the celebrations, Stalin regretted that a group was trying to paint Valluvar, who stood for egalitarian principles, in saffron. Valluvar gave the world the universal principle that all were born equal, he said.

The dedication of the statue to the nation in January, 2000 by former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi was a dream come true for him. He had envisaged the project in 1975 itself but could implement it only in 2000, Stalin said.

The height of the statue, sculpted by Ganapathy Stapathy, marked the 133 chapters of Valluvar’s magnum opus, Thirukural, which was popularized by Dravidar Kazhagam founder Periyar E V Ramasamy, DMK founder C N Annadurai and Karuanidhi, Stalin said.

When the statue was about to be installed on the rock, questions were asked on the durability of the statue and the sculptor said that as long as waves and hills existed, the statue would stand and true to his prediction, it withstood the onslaught of the 2004 tsunami, he said.

As part of the silver jubilee celebrations of the statue, essay competitions for school children, social media shorts reels contest for college students and painting competitions through AI and digital technology would be held, the Chief Minister announced.

A 3-D laser show and plethora of programmes have been planned to commemorate the silver jubilee and in the run up to the celebrations on December 31 and January 1, seminars and symposiums would be organized and prizes would be given away, he said.