Chennai: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday unveiled a statue of former DMK supremo M Karunanidhi here on the leader's first death anniversary.
The All India Trinamool Congress chief unveiled the statue in the presence of DMK president MK Stalin in the premises of the party's mouthpiece "Murasoli," and paid floral tributes. She also paid tributes at Karunanidhi's memorial at the Marina beach.
The late leader's statue, painted in a rich golden-yellow hue, features him in a sitting posture with a writing pad and pen, with his trademark dark glasses and smile. The sculpture was adorned with a bright garland of red roses.
Greeting the guests present in Tamil, she said, “ I salute Mr.Karunanidhi. He was a visionary, who dedicated his life for uplifting the poor. A 13 time MLA, he was a world icon and warrior who championed the cause of the minorities, farmers and the downtrodden. He is no more but he will be alive in our hearts forever.”
Comparing the late leader to the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Ambedkar, Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam, Dr Radhakrishnan and Nethaji she called upon Tamil youngsters to carry their vision of “One nation. One religion. One caste. One creed” forward.
“If they can fight we can fight too. We can sacrifice our lives, but not our motherland or country”, she said.
Speaking on the controversial Kashmir issue she asserted if a decision was taken in respect of any particular state, people of that state should be taken into confidence, an apparent reference to the scrapping of Article 370 by the Centre.
She claimed that the whereabouts of National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah were not known and expressed concern over it.
“We do not know his whereabouts, we are really concerned,” she said and added that as per the original agenda for the event here, Abdullah was scheduled to take part.
She ended her speech with” Jai Hind. Jai Bangla. Jai Tamilnadu”
