Rajya Sabha member and Tamil Manila Congress President GK Vasan wrote to Delhi's deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday, to point out that the staffbelonging to a statue of Tamil poet Subramania Bharati near Khan Market was missing. The theft was noticed by the TMC leader when he went to pay respect to the statue on the occasion of Subramania Bharati's 138th birth anniversary.
According to GK Vasan, on Friday morning he was invited by the Tamil sangam in Delhi to celebrate the poet and freedom fighter's birth anniversary. After respects were paid, he was informed by the media persons present at the site that Bharathi's staff was missing. Following this, Vasan then telephoned Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and when he could not be reached, he sent him a letter regarding the staff.
"I was shocked to learn that the staff was missing. Today is a day when both leaders and public come to pay respect to Bharathi and the staff is an identifier for him. It leads to both shock and suspicion," GK Vasan told Puthiya Thalaimurai. "Moreover, I also noticed that the statue is not maintained properly," he added.
Vasan has now written to the Deputy CM with multiple requests. He has asked that an investigation be conducted into the missing staff and that it be replaced in the meantime. He has also requested that better maintenance be done for the statue itself.
Subramania Bharati was a firebrand poet and revolutionary thinker from Tamil Nadu. He had written about caste, equality of women and several other pressing social issues that still hold relevance in today’s society. He lived for merely 39 years but in that short span he left a great mark on both the country and the state. He began writing poems at the age of 7 and engaged with scholars by the age of 11.