Pro-Kannada bodies oppose unveiling of Thiruvalluvar's statue

The controversy surrounding the unveiling of a statue of Tiruvalluvar in Bengaluru is back with pro-Kannada organisations walking out of an all party meeting on Monday and calling for state wide bandh on August 9. Even as the organisations staged a walkout, the Karnataka government headed by B S Yeddyurappa decided to go ahead with the unveiling of the statue as scheduled on August 9.

There has been a long standing demand to unveil the statue of the renowned Tamil poet Tiruvalluvar in Bengaluru. The Karnataka government agreed to go ahead with the univeling of the statue after their counterparts in Chennai agreed to unveil the statue of renowned Kannada poet Sarvangnya. Tamil Nadu has scheduled the unveiling of the statue in Chennai on August 13.

The statue of Tiruvalluvar will be unveiled at a grand ceremony in the Tamil dominated suburb of Ulsoor where the statue is placed.  

This issue has been a sensitive one since the past several years and the unveiling of this statue has been stalled on some pretext or another. The last time it had become a major issue was at the time Dr Rajkumar, the Kannada icon was abducted by forest brigand, Veerappan. Among the many demands that were laid down by the brigand in return for the release of Dr Rajkumar, he had also demanded that the statue of Tiruvalluvar be unveiled immediately.

The Vatal Paksha, Kannada Rakshana Vedike which were part of the all-party-meeting chaired by the government staged a walk out during the middle of the meeting protesting the government's decision to go ahead with the unveiling of the statue. They said that the government was being anti-Kannada. They also threatened that they would not permit the statue to be unveiled and will also stage a Karnataka bundh on August 9. They also termed the act as an insult to Dr Rajkumar and stated that the government had given into the demands of Veerappan.