Bengaluru: The state government has decided to install a statue of 16th century chieftain and founder of Bengaluru, Nadaprabhu Hiriya Kempe Gowda at the Kempegowda International Airport.
Announcing this at the Kempe Gowda Jayanthi celebrations at the Vidhana Soudha here on Tuesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the world already knew about Bengaluru and now it was time it got to know about the man who built it.
Merely naming the airport after him and displaying some name plates was not adequate and so it had been decided to install his statue with information on his role in building Bengaluru displayed at the airport, he revealed. “He was a great visionary, who five centuries ago thought of building a grand city and worked towards it. Today, Bengaluru has grown beyond his dreams,” the Chief Minister observed, recalling that the airport was named after Kempe Gowda on a recommendation from his government, after it assumed power in 2013.
The Chief Minister was responding to a request made by Spatikapuri Math seer, Sri Nanjavadootha Swamiji to install a statue of
Kempe Gowda at the airport and display his portraits in allgovernment offices, and name a university and also the Namma Metro after him.
Mr Siddaramaiah said he would consider naming one of the three universities that would be created following the trifurcation of Bangalore University, after Kempe Gowda. Claiming that his government was trying to restore Bengaluru’s Garden City tag, he pointed out that Kempe Gowda gave huge importance to lakes and greenery and regretted that both had lost out to real-estate today, leaving Bengaluru with the shameful title of Garbage City.’
While the Chief Minister promised to name the Metro Rail station at Majestic, where the Green Line intersects with the Purple, after Kempe Gowda, it appears it is already named after him. BMRCL sources confirmed that the railway station at the Majestic had been named after Kempe Gowda. In fact, Sri Nirmalanandanatha Swamiji of Adichunchanagiri Math had to remind the Chief Minister that the demand was to name the entire Namma Metro network after him and not just one station.
