MADURAI: Efforts are on to celebrate the birth anniversary of King Thirumalai Nayak, one of the key architects of Madurai city, as a government holiday, state information minister Kadambur C Raju said on Thursday.
Kadambur Raju and state minister for cooperation Sellur K Raju paid tributes to the king’s statue on his 438th birth anniversary on Thursday. Addressing reporters, Kadambur Raju said that former chief minister J Jayalalithaa had announced the birth anniversary to be celebrated as a state function, and is being celebrated since 2016. He added that he will insist chief minister Edappadi K Palanisami to announce it as a government holiday.
Kadambur Raju said that the present statue was installed by former chief minister MGR and there was a demand to install a bronze statue which has been taken up with the chief minister. “He has ordered the installation of a life-size bronze statue,” the minister said.
It was during Thirumalai Nayak’s reign in the 17th century that various construction activities to define the city took place.
Earlier in the day, a large number of people,especially from the Naidu community turned up at the mahal to pay tributes to the king. Youths came on processions with musical bands, while women took milk pot processions and carried out abhishekam to the statue.
Former chief secretary of Tamil Nadu and founder and president of RMR Pasarai, P Rama Mohana Rao also paid respect. Members of the Telugu Jana Seva staged a protest in front of the mahal urging the central government to name the Madurai airport after King Thirumalai Nayak.