Kottayam: A demand to name Vizhinjam port after Raja Keshavadas has been made by Mr D. Babu Paul, former additional chief secretary and noted scholar. Inaugurating the 140th Mannam Jayanthi celebrations at Perunna on Monday, he said, “the port should be named after Raja Keshavadas as he was the first to identify Vizhinjam as an appropriate place for building a port.”
Mannathu Padmanabhan should not be confined to a particular community as he belonged to the entire Kerala, he said and added that Mannam had allowed ‘Harjans’ to enter the temple many years before the temple entry proclamation was made. “A real Indian is one who respects one’s own community and one who can love and respect the other person’s religion and community,” he said. Mannam had great leadership qualities and he had organised lawyers and teachers.
Travancore Devaswom Board president Prayar Gopalakrishnan and novelist C. Radhakrishnan also spoke. NSS president P.N. Narendra Nathan Nair presided over the function. NSS general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair was present.
