Pranav M.B., an armless social worker from Alathur, will be celebrating his 23rd birthday like never before on Friday. He will plant trees on the premises of 23 government offices in and around Alathur.
“I am going to have the happiest birthday ever,” he said after meeting Speaker M.B. Rajesh and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at their respective offices in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.
Pranav surprised the Speaker by giving him his portrait that he sketched with his toes. Mr. Rajesh accepted the portrait, appreciated it, and shook Pranav’s right foot with his right hand in gratitude.
An inspiration
In a Facebook post, the Speaker praised Alathur’s armless hero and shared his excitement in meeting him. “He surmounted his disability through sheer grit and determination. And he remains an inspiration for large number of people,” said Mr. Rajesh.
The Speaker has responded positively to Pranav’s desire to plant one of the 23 trees in the Assembly compound. “We will arrange for that,” said Mr. Rajesh, extending his birthday greetings to Pranav.
His meeting with the Chief Minister too was heart-warming. Two years ago, on his 21st birthday, Pranav had met the Chief Minister along with his parents and handed over the funds he collected through the foot paintings he did in reality shows to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.
Moved by his humanitarian gesture, Mr. Vijayan had written in his FB post: “It’s an invaluable contribution.”
K.D. Prasenan and K. Babu, MLAs of Alathur and Nenmara respectively, accompanied Pranav on Thursday. If it was the Chief Minister who went viral with a photo of him shaking Pranav’s right foot two years ago, it was the Speaker who went viral on social media with a similar act on Thursday.
Pranav was in the news when he polled his maiden vote using the second toe of his right foot in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
The district administration roped him in as the youth icon representing the differently abled for the Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme conducted by the Election Commission.
