THOOTHUKUDI : The decades-long efforts of various groups to get a Dr BR Ambedkar statue in Tiruchendur is finally set to pay off as MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi laid the foundation stone for the statue on Friday. The statue is set for inauguration on April 14, the 133rd birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar. Buddhist bhikkhu and bhikkhuni (male and female monastics) from Karnataka performed the rituals as per Buddhist rituals before Kanimozhi laid the stone.
Initially, the statue was slated to be built at the Dr BR Ambedkar Memorial Park. However, owing to space constraints, and with the apex court banning the installation of statues in public places, the statue is set to come up on a plot of land belonging to the Dr BR Ambedkar Memorial Education Trust in Tiruchendur.
A statue of Buddha in a sitting posture was installed temporarily to perform traditional rituals. The event was organised by VCK party, on behalf of the Trust. Speaking to TNIE, Murasu Tamilappan, founder of the Trust said, “The 25-ft tall statue of Dr Ambedkar will be installed within two months, and will be inaugurated on April 14.” The demand for Dr Ambedkar’s statue grew in the 1980s after a statue of former CM K Karamaraj was installed at the Dr Ambedkar Memorial Park in 1979, with people from the Scheduled Caste pushing for the cause.
Subsequently, Tiruchendur town panchayat passed a resolution in 1988 to commission a full-sized statue of Dr Ambedkar near the Tiruchendur bus stand, which was later put on hold. Following persistent efforts by Tamilappan, a VCK functionary, the Tiruchendur civic body proposed another resolution to install the statue in October 2020. However, owing to the SC’s ban on statues in public places, the VCK purchased land on behalf of the Dr Ambedkar Trust to set up the statue. Meanwhile, Minister Anitha Radhakrishnan laid the foundation stone for a ‘Kalvi Illam’, to hold competitive exams and a civil service coaching centre for all communities. An Equality Day flag was hoisted by VCK state deputy general secretary Kalaivendan and the universal Buddhist flag was unfurled by Maurya Gupta, member of minorities welfare commission, in the same campus.