R Sankar's family keeps away from statue unveiling function

Kollam: With controversy looming large over exclusion of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy from the statue unveiling function of R Sankar by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the family of the former Chief Minister did not attend the event on Tuesday.

Sankar, who was the Chief Minister during 1962-64, had headed the Kerala PCC and the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Sangam (SNDP), an organisation of the backward Ezhava community in the state, which organized the statue unveiling function.

Mohan Sankar, Chairman of Kerala State Backward Classes Development Corporation, had said there were efforts being made to portray his father as an “RSS man".

Protesting against the exclusion of Chandy from the function, he had said he and his sister would not attend the function. "Some black hands and vested interests worked to ensure that Chandy was excluded from the function. I am pained that a needless controversy had been created," Mohan had told the media.

"First inviting a person and then asking him not to attend the function was showing disrespect to the person,” Sankar, who is President of Kollam SNDP unit, said.

42-years after his death, Sankar's statue was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday at the SN College founded by him.