THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Dr. Padmanabhan Palpu, social revolutionary and fighter for the Ezhava community, does not have a decent resting place. His memorial in Bains Compound here has been lying neglected even as the state will celebrate his 156th birth anniversary on November 2.
It is cleaned only during the annual death anniversary on January 25 and the birth anniversary.
The efforts of Dr. Palpu's family to construct a compound wall at the burial place were foiled by some people.
Chandy Oommen, son of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who alerted this paper about the issue, said the father of the renaissance movement was neglected at a time when the LDF government was trying to revive the movement.
Dr. Palpu, who founded the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam in 1903 with Sree Narayana Guru as its first president, died at the age of 86.
He was against erecting a statue or memorial for him.
His great grandson, Krishna Murali, told DC that the family wants to build a retaining wall to protect his final abode.
"My father, the Late A. Raveendran, had told us that our great grandfather wanted to be laid to rest at our family property which is in four cents. He also desired planting a Plumeria tree (Chempakam) so that its flowers will fall on his resting place", said Krishna Murali, an artist and painter.
A civil case has been filed at Vanchiyoor court by a land owner adjacent to the property where Dr. Palpu was buried.
The mortal remains of his wife, Bhagavathy Amma, and two of his children, including a daughter, Anandavally, are also there. Another son, Nataraja Guru, disciple of Narayana Guru, was laid to rest at Narayana Gurukulam at Varkala.
Dr. Palpu Memorial Foundation president K. Sambasivan told Deccan Chronicle that the case has been going on for nearly four years.
"There is a three-cent property near Dr. Palpu's house at Nanthencode and its owners have filed a case claiming that the purambroke land belongs to them. We clean the resting place of Dr. Palpu twice a year. The recent rains have ravaged the place," said Sambasivan.
