Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the non-inclusion of tableau from his state in the Republic Day celebrations 2022 and sought his urgent intervention into the matter.
Earlier, the Chief Ministers of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu had also expressed their dissatisfaction over non inclusion of tableaux of their respective states.
The Kerala Chief Minister tweeted, "Wrote to Hon. PM @narendramodi ji on non-inclusion of Kerala's tableau in the Republic Day parade. It featured the great philosopher and social reformer Sree Narayana Guru, who led Kerala's renaissance movement. Sought his urgent intervention to include our tableau in the parade." He attached a photo of the letter sent to the PM along with his tweet.
CM Vijayan in his letter to PM Modi said, "The message the tableau can send to the younger generation of the country is very valuable and I seek urgent intervention of Hon'ble Prime Minister to get it included in the coming Republic Day parade."
Describing about the proposed tableau of the state, the Chief Minister said that it has a strong social message and high relevance in the contemporary social scenario.
"I am placing the above fact before your goodself, as the proposed tableau of Kerala has a very strong social message in it and it has high relevance in the contemporary social scenario," he wrote.
"Our tableau included the image of Sree Narayana Guru. the 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 worldwide attention. He had fought obscurantist practices which had led to division among human beings and he propagated the philosophy of universal brotherhood, freedom and right to education for all," Vijayan added in his letter.
Vijayan pointed out that Kerala had "won the honours" more than once.
"I also take this occasion to gently remind that Kerala' tableaux have in the past won honours more than once," he wrote.
Earlier on Sunday, Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the "rejection of proposed tableau of West Bengal for the ensuing Republic Day Parade" and requested to "include the tableau of freedom fighters from West Bengal in the parade".
Responding to her letter, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had said, "I would like to assure you that the selection process of the tableaux participating in the Republic Day Parade is very transparent."
(ANI)