Thiruvananthapuram: Sree Narayana Guru statue proposed by the state government will come up on the Karyavattom campus of the Kerala University. Sources said the university had cleared it among a series of proposals to enliven memories of social reformers in its budget on March 16. State cabinet in November had decided to install the statue of the iconic social reformer in the capital city. The unveiling will coincide with the centenary celebrations of Guru's Namukku Jathiyilla (We Have No Caste) proclamation.
The cabinet had entrusted revenue additional chief secretary P. H. Kurien and cultural department secretary, Rani George, to find a suitable place. The Kerala University budget also proposes an International Centre for Sree Narayana Guru under its Malayalam department. Other proposals include memorial lectures on former chief ministers E.M.S. Namboothiripad, R. Shankar, C. Achutha Menon, C. H. Mohammed Koya K. Karunakaran, E. K. Nayanar and P.K. Vasudevan Nair.
They will be brought out as books. Manonmaniam Sundaram Pillai Dravidian Cultural Centre will come up under the Tamil department for the study of Dravidian culture. A lecture series named Secular India and Gandhiji is also part of the budget proposals for reviving memories of social reformers. It announced new teaching departments for Marxian studies, Sree Narayana thoughts and geographical studies.
