President Droupadi Murmu visits iconic Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Kanniyakumari

Ms. Murmu also offered prayers at the Bharat Mata Temple there and visited the Sri Ramayana Dharshan complex

President Droupadi Murmu, who is touring neighbouring Kerala, paid a lighting visit to the southern tip of the mainland, Kanniyakumari, on Saturday morning, and spent around two hours at the international tourist destination.

As she landed at the Kanniyakumari helipad at 9 a.m. from Thiruvananthapuram, Ms. Murmu was received by Governor R.N. Ravi, Minister for Information Technology T. Mano Thangaraj, Director General of Police C. Sylendra Babu, Secretary for Registration and Monitoring Officer for Kanniyakumari district, S. Jothi Nirmala and District Collector P.N. Sridhar, who took her to the Poompuhar Shipping Corporation’s jetty, to sail to the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, in a ferry.

Though arrangements had been made to receive her at the nearby rock on which the imposing 133-feet-tall Tiruvalluvar statue is standing, the President took a look at the statue from the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, where she spent about an hour before reaching the jetty at 10 a.m. to get to Vivekananda Kendra, situated about 1.5 km away from the jetty, by road.

After interacting with the Vivekananda Kendra officials, Ms. Murmu offered prayers at the Bharat Mata Temple there and visited the Sri Ramayana Dharshan complex, a two-storey building with 86 modern acrylic pictorial presentations, starting from Valmiki’s tapasya to the Sri Rama Pattabhishekam on the Vivekananda Kendra premises, before once again boarding the chopper to Thiruvananthapuram at 10.50 a.m.

Tourists were allowed to board the ferry to the Vivekananda Rock Memorial after the President’s chopper took off and all the shops along the road leading from the helipad to the Poompuhar Shipping Corporation jetty were closed till 11 a.m.

The police, led by Inspector General of Police, South Zone, Asra Garg had made five-tier security arrangements in and around Kanniyakumari.