THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP state leadership has taken up the helicopter row, where the Indian Air Force kept an M18 helicopter next to the Mermaid sculpture of Kanayi Kunhiraman at Shankhumugham here. Former BJP state presidents Kummanam Rajasekharan and P K Krishnadas visited the venue on Saturday. They expressed their strong displeasure on the raging row where they urged the tourism department authorities to take steps to remove the helicopter from there at the earliest.
At a time when people from different walks of life had rallied behind Kanayi Kunhiraman, the state BJP leaders also made a beeline to the famed Mermaid statue. Kanayi who is waiting to hear from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as promised by him to end the stalemate ever since the local body polls got over, is yet to materialise. The M18 helicopter was installed in June 2019 by the IAF in a bid to encourage youth to join the force. But the issue escalated when the helicopter took the space beside Kanayi’s sculpture which has nature around it as the canvas.
Further the work taken up by the tourism development around it encroached more of the space around it and caused quite a stir among the public and social commentators. On Saturday evening, Kummanam and Krishnadas visited the venue and realised the intensity of the issue.“The tourism department has literally killed the unique piece of art. It is highly deplorable of them to defame the famous Mermaid statue as it defies logic,” said Kummanam who is also the former Governor of Mizoram.Krishnadas also urged artists to come forward and express their solidarity and rally behind Kanayi.