MANNAM CULTURAL CENTRE OPENED IN DELHI

MANNAM CULTURAL CENTRE

 OPENED IN DELHI

President Pranab Mukherjee has described the founder of the Nair Service Society (NSS), Mannathu , as a visionary and social reformer who fought against social evils and strove for the economic uplift of the people of Kerala.‘‘Mannathu Padmanabhan participated in the Vaikom Satyagraha in Kerala which led to streets around the Vaikom temple being opened to the socially underprivileged sections of Hindu society as well as the Guruvayur Satyagraha which led to entry of underprivileged classes into temples,’’ he said at a function organised at Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Tuesday to mark the inauguration of the Mannam International Socio-Cultural and Charitable Centre.The centre, located at Dwarka here, seeks to provide care for senior citizens, healthcare to the underprivileged, temporary shelter to the needy who visit the capital, and space for community functions.

Stating that Mannathu worked with rare zeal and single-minded devotion for the transformation of the downtrodden in society, the President noted: ‘‘He believed that caste should not be a dividing factor among human beings. A strong believer in the concept of equality of human beings and in Mahatma Gandhi’s methods of non-violence and satyagraha, Padmanabhan put his organisational and oratorical skills to best use to awaken the people of Kerala, especially the Nair community, out of the decadence in which they had fallen.’’Hoping that the new centre would serve the needs of the underprivileged, the Presidents said: ‘‘Mannathu Padmanabhan established and nurtured the NSS which has taken the lead in establishing numerous education institutions, medical establishments, and industrial units across the State of Kerala and we hope that this new centre will continue the tradition.’’Among the dignitaries present at the function were Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor and T.K.A. Nair, Adviser to the Prime Minister.

Prof. John Kurakar