Kerala CM Vijayan writes to PM Modi on R-Day tableau

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 20: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to include Kerala's tableau in the coming Republic Day parade.

Drawing the Prime Minister's attention to the non-inclusion of Kerala's tableau in the parade, the Chief Minister said the proposed tableau of the southern State has a social message and relevance in the contemporary social scenario.

"Our tableau included the image of Sree Narayana Guru, a great philosopher and social reformer, who led the renaissance movement of Kerala in the last century. His thoughts and actions attracted not only national but also worldwide attention," the letter said.

It said Guru had fought obscurantist practices which led to division among human beings and he propagated the philosophy of universal brotherhood, freedom and right to education for all. "The message the tableau can send to the younger generation of the country is very valuable", the letter said while seeking urgent intervention of the Prime Minister to get the tableau included in the parade.

Also, he told the Prime Minister that Kerala's tableaux have in the past won honours more than once. Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has written to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin as the exclusion of the two States' proposed tableaux from the Republic Day snowballed into a major controversy. PTI