Madurai
Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami led the State in paying respect to freedom fighter U. Muthuramalinga Thevar by garlanding his statue at Goripalayam here on Tuesday on the occasion of the leader's 111th birth anniversary.
Accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and Ministers Dindigul C. Srinivasan (Forests) and R. B. Udayakumar (Revenue), the Chief Minister was the first to garland the bronze statue early in the morning before leaving for Pasumpon.
Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping Pon. Radhakrishnan, along with BJP leader H. Raja, leader of the Opposition and DMK president M.K. Stalin and TNCC president Su. Thirunavukkarasar, also paid their respects.
Among the leaders who garlanded the statue were MDMK general secretary Vaiko, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam leader TTV Dhinakaran, All India Forward Bloc leader P.V. Kathiravan, and All India Moovendar Munnani Kazhagam founder N. Sethuraman.
A large number of people from various parts of Madurai and neighbouring districts, including significant number of women and teenagers, garlanded the statue, poured pots of milk on the statue and took out a ‘mulaipari’ (sprouts) procession to pay respects to the late leader. Many people also came dancing to the tunes of band and parai music.
Though the police imposed a ban on travelling on the top of vehicles and carrying out processions on cars and motorbikes, a number of people, predominantly teenagers belonging to various Thevar outfits, were seen violating this ban in many places across the city.
Police sources said 20 cameras had been installed in and around Thevar statue to monitor all violations.
Commissioner of Police S. Davidson Devasirvatham said that the celebrations went off smoothly and was incident-free. The city police detained 40 motorbikes after youths rode them in a rash manner causing nuisance.