Kerala's 'Jatayupara and Sree Narayana Guru' float for Republic Day parade rejected by defence ministry

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Defence has rejected a float submitted by Kerala to be approved for display at the Republic Day parade. Kerala prepared the Chadayamangalam Jatayupara model, which conveys a message of women empowerment along with the potential of tourism. The state also intended to place a statue of Sree Narayana Gurudevan in front of the float.

The float was based on the theme of "achievements in various fields" as part of the 75th anniversary of independence. The jury appointed by the Ministry of Defence to evaluate and recommend the floats gave positive feedback in all five rounds of discussions. In the final round held on December 18, the jury approved the sketch in Kerala's interest and directed to compose the music.

Following the non-receipt of a letter from the Ministry of Defense stating that float was selected, an inquiry revealed that Kerala is not in the list of 12 states.

Floats from Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand were selected. Of these, the BJP government is in power in all states except Punjab, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. Kerala's float has won the award five times before.

The jury asked for Adi Shankara and Kerala recommended Gurudevan

A model of the Jatayupara gate was also prepared to be placed in front of the float. But the Ministry of Defence suggested that the statue of Sreesankaracharya should be placed in front. The state government decided that the statue of Sree Narayana Guru, the hero of the renaissance, will be good, if a change is necessary. The state explained that by placing the statue of Adi Shankara with Jatayuppara, it would be considered as a pilgrimage tourism and the statue of Gurudevan would be good as Chadayamangalam, where Jatayuppara is located, is close to Varkala and Chempazhanthi. Kerala had also submitted the sketch with the statue of Adi Shankara as requested by the jury.