Umesh Kesavan, who cleared the Civil Service Examinations (IAS) from the Tamil Nadu cadre and has been posted as the Assistant Collector of Palakkad, Kerala — was recently in the news all over social media. Umesh’s Facebook post on Attapady, the tribal block of Palakkad, has created considerable buzz and gone viral — with several youngsters obsessively sharing his update. The reason? The post had actor Ilayathalapathy Vijay’s name tagged to it!
The 25-year-old IAS officer wrote on Facebook — “Got a chance to visit a remote hamlet in the Attapady tribal block of Palakkad district yesterday. The roads were non-existent, the streetlights had gone into hiding, and no toilets were to be found. When asked, ‘Where is your toilet?’ a man indicated the entire hill around him and said, ‘It’s all our toilet.’ There was also general apathy towards government. A group of boys we met were not interested in going to school, as they found it pointless. They had no clue about the society around them. When asked what they do to pass their time during non-agricultural seasons/weekends, one person said, ‘We watch Vijay’s movies and songs on Tamil channels all the time.’ Crores and crores of social welfare funds had not reached that untouched remote hamlet. Only Vijay had reached!”
The massive reach of Ilayathalapathy Vijay in Kerala is definitely a happy moment for the actor’s millions of fans who are going gaga about his ‘mass star status,’ but some parts of media twisted the post. Umesh himself said that the purpose of his post had been misrepresented, when DC contacted him.
He tells us, “It was a random observation I made when I visited the remote hamlet of Attapady tribal block, which I felt was in a bad state. Like how I register my personal thoughts on FB, this was also shared. I was not being judgmental. Actually, it was part of the Suchitwa Mission, which is something like the ‘Swachh Bharat’ mission of our PM. But ‘Suchitwa’ is a Kerala government-funded campaign and headed by Mrs Vasuki, IAS, with the vision of a waste-free Kerala with an unpolluted environment, public hygiene, and cleanliness. ODF (Open Defecation Free) is one of the major motives of Suchitwa — meaning construction of toilets in remote areas. There are many Mollywood actors including Mohanlal sir who are part of this social cause. Because Vijay is very popular in Kerala, I thought I should rope him in for this awareness programme. But sadly, some reports misrepresented my post, which has resulted in his fans and others talking only about Vijay’s mass image.”
Umesh adds, “You would have seen stars like Vidya Balan promoting a similar cause through a series of ads. Similarly, I felt that a popular face could bring in a change. Yes, I met Vijay recently only in connection with the Suchitwa social campaign. Since he has a huge fan following in Kerala, I thought roping him in would bring better results. I requested him to be part of our Suchitwa awareness campaign. That’s all!” he says and signs off. We hope that Vijay, being a philanthropist in real life, will oblige him and do the needful!
