Legendary music composer Ilaiyaraaja was presented with an honorary doctorate by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, November 11, during the latter’s visit to Tamil Nadu. Following his visit to Bengaluru, the Prime Minister flew to Gandhigram to Dindigul in Tamil Nadu, in order to attend the 36th convocation ceremony at the Gandhigram Rural Institute. It was at the end of the ceremony that Ilaiyaraaja and instrumentalist Umayalpuram K Sivaraman were conferred honorary doctorates.
The Prime Minister flew to the Madurai airport via a special flight on Friday afternoon, where he was received by a slew of dignitaries including Governor RN Ravi, ministers KKSSR Ramachandran, Thangam Thennarasu and P Moorthy, Director General of Police Sylendra Babu, Madurai Collector Aneesh Shekhar and others. He was also greeted by opposition party members including former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam of the AIADMK and other BJP leaders. Heavy security measures were in place at the Madurai airport ahead of the PM’s visit, with Madurai Commissioner T Senthil Kumar saying that three-tier security was brought in at the airport. Further, vehicles coming to and from the venue were subjected to police scrutiny.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bengaluru on Friday morning to flag off the Vande Bharat Express from the KSR Railway Station. Following this, the Prime Minister went to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) to inaugurate the second terminal. Narendra Modi also unveiled a statue of Bengaluru’s founder Kempegowda. The 108-feet bronze statue, dubbed as ‘Statue of Prosperity’ was installed at the KIA. The statue has also made it to the Guinness Book of World Records.