Vice-President Hameed Anzari will unveil the statue of Swami Vivekananda at Kowdiar park here on September 11 at 4.30 pm. Swami Atmapriyananda, Vice-Chancellor of the Vivekananda University, Kolkata, of the Sree Ramakrishna Mission will perform the aarathi.
Later, the Vice-President will address a public meeting at the Salvation Army school ground. Governor Nikhil Kumar, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Rajya Sabha Opposition leader Arun Jaitley, Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, Uhtradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma, Swami Atmapriyananda, Swami Amrithaswaroopananda and K Muraleedharan MLA will speak.
Vivekananda Kendram director P Parameswaran will welcome the gathering.
Mayor K Chandrika will offer vote of thanks. A one-hour-long cultural programme has also been scheduled.
The bronze statue of Swami Vivekananda was made at Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu modelled on the statue at Swami Vivekananda rock memorial at Kanyakumari.
Sculptor Dakshinamurthy had supervised the sculpting work. The 12-feet statue will be installed at the mandapam constructed on the Kerala temple structure style. The 20 square ft mandapam has a height of 43 feet. Two tonnes of copper have been used to make the statue. There are four ‘’mukhappu’’ made of wood depicting the sculptural beauty of Kerala. About 100 tonne of Krishna stone was brought for constructing the mandapam from Mailadi in Tamil Nadu. The mandapam has been designed by consultant engineer Manoj S Nair of Vasthuvidya Gurukulam, Arnamula.
P Parameswaran said with the installation of the statue, the Vivekananda Kendram has fulfilled a long-cherished wish.
He said the support received for the construction was overwhelming and the statue would be a pride for the capital city.