TN: Vijay To Attend Guru Pooja In Pasumpon

Chennai: For the first time in the history of Muthuramalinga Thevar ‘Guru Pooja’ observation, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu is expected to hop on to a helicopter to reach Pasumpon village on Friday to pay homage to the freedom fighter and iconic political leader and take part in the annual event observed with spiritual piety and political fervor.

Work on the construction of a helipad at Pasumpon, the birthplace of Muthuramalinga Thevar in Ramanathapuram district, is on to enable Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay reach the memorial without hassles and pay homage to the leader on October 30.

Hitherto, top political leaders of all hues arrived at Pasumpon on Guru Pooja day every year by road in convoys or by individual vehicles from Madurai often causing traffic snarls and congestion.

Since the arrival of top party leaders would lead to the followers too arriving at the same time, police had, of late, allotted specific time slots for different parties.

Vijay flying into Pasumpon would help avoid the traffic congestion on the road from Madurai, which would be filled with followers of Muthuramalinga Thevar, some of them even walking a distance on the road carrying pots with sprouted grains on their heads that day.

The day that also marks the 119th birth anniversary of the Muthuramalinga Thevar besides being the 64th Guru Pooja (death anniversary), started drawing political leaders of all moorings after it became popular in the late 1970s. During the AIADMK regime, the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa presented a golden armour weighing 13 kg to cover the statue of Muthuramalinga Thevar at his memorial in 2004.

Apart from adorning the statue during the Guru Pooja celebration that lasts a few days, the armour (called as kavasam in Tamil) is kept in safe custody in a bank locker in Madurai. The AIADMK treasurer, operating the bank account, would normally take the armour out ahead of Guru Pooja, which would be taken to Pasumpon with police escort.

Since the Guru Pooja observations had triggered clashes in the initial years, police still take precautionary measures to prevent miscreants from creating trouble and this year a posse of 8000 police personnel have been posted all over Ramanathapuram district.

Precautionary measures have been taken under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) – it was formerly Section 144 of the CrPC - restricting assembly of five or more persons in public places among other things.

Though the presence of the Chief Minister would create security concerns, the police have reportedly made arrangements to ensure that it did not obstruct the devoted followers of the Muthuramalinga Thever and leaders and workers of political parties from paying homage.