Kadakampally Surendran (left) and K. Surendran (right)
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala BJP president K. Surendran criticised the government move to take over the land where the Theerthapada Mandapam in front of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.
Surendran termed the Revenue department recovering the land using police on Friday as a provocative and condemnable move from the government.
“The Theerthapada Mandapam is the monument of renaissance leader Chattampi Swamikal. Spiritual and cultural programmes were being organised there for decades. The action by the Revenue department comes at a point when the Chief Minister is all set to lay the foundation stone of the new cultural complex at the Theerthapada Mandapam,” said Surendran.
Terming the move as a public insult on Chattampi Swamikal, Surendran said it hurt the sentiments of devotees. The BJP president added that the government had recovered land it had given earlier.
Surendran alleged that the government move comes at a time when several other land allotted for constructing cultural monuments were not being used. He accused the government of turning a blind eye to the encroachments by other religious and political organisations in the capital city.
Surendran went on to say that even the AKG centre, the CPM headquarters, was located on encroached land. He warned that the BJP will not remain idle against the government’s non-secular move challenging the devotes.
Responding to Surendran’s allegations, Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said that the BJP was politicising the matter.
“The government had been safeguarding the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple and the Theerthapada Mandapam. There is enough land in the area for the mandapam and monument for Chattampi Swamikal. If the trust legally asks the government, the monument will be returned,” said Kadakampally Surendran.
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