Chennai: Saint Thiruvalluvar will stand tall inside the Mela Bhawan in Haridwar on the banks of Ganges next week with the Uttarakhand government planning to make the unveiling a grand function with invites likely to be sent to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and DMK president M. Karunanidhi among others.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat, who launched all out efforts to ensure that the abandoned statue gets unveiled in a permanent place, has also announced his decision to rename the Mela Bhawan Park as Thiruvallur Park. Mr Rawat, who was under pressure from politicians and other groups from Tamil Nadu to get the statue re-installed soon, also said that his government would soon come out with a detailed plan to propagate the ideals of Saint Thiruvalluvar among people of the hill state.
“It is a great honour for Haridwar and Uttarakhand to host the statue of a great Saint like Thiruvalluvar. We have decided to rename the Mela Bhawan Park as Thiruvalluvar Park. The state government will also take steps to promote the works of the saint,” Mr Rawat said on Sunday, adding that the statue would be unveiled in the first week of August.
“Thiruvalluvar belongs to whole humanity and we are now planning to take his teachings across the state. We will chalk out a detailed plan on how to go about this very soon,” Mr Rawat said.
Officials said the work in the Mela Bhawan Park, where the statue will be erected, is on full swing and efforts are being taken to ensure that there is no controversy around this time. The State Government is also planning to send invitations to Ms Jayalalithaa, Mr Karunanidhi and other senior political leaders and literary figures of Tamil Nadu to make the function a grand success, top government officials said.
Thiruvalluvar Statue, which was to be installed at the Sankaracharya Chowk on the banks of river Ganga in June, was finally unveiled at the PWD Guest House in Haridwar, but it was soon found abandoned at the campus.
Following a massive uproar in Tamil Nadu, the Uttarakhand government had on Tuesday last announced plans to install the statue at a suitable place in two weeks time. It may be recalled that Ms Jayalalithaa had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in the issue.
