Poet Sugathakumari played the role of a sentinel of the environment and Malayalam language during seven decades of being active in the State’s public sphere, Culture Minister A.K. Balan has said.
He was speaking at an event organised at the Ayyankali hall on Wednesday evening in tribute to the poet who passed away earlier in the day.
“Sugathakumari loved the soil, humans and the mother tongue. She was one of the earliest proponents of the environment protection movements in the State. Her tenure as the first chairperson of the State Women’s Commission became a turning point in that sphere,” said Mr. Balan.
Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said that her passing away was an irreparable loss to Malayalam literature as well as for social and environmental activism. Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja, former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member M.A. Baby, CPI leader Pannian Raveendran, filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, and others spoke. Poet Madhusoodhanan Nair recited a poem in tribute to Sugathakumari.
Several persons, including her admirers took part in the event, which was organised by following all COVID-19 protocols. As the body was not kept for public viewing, owing to COVID-19 restrictions, a photograph of her was kept at the Ayyankali hall in the afternoon for the public to pay tributes. Political leaders, cultural figures and people from various walks of life paid tributes to her throughout the day.
Her body was taken directly from the Government Medical College Hospital to the Shanthikavadam electric crematorium at 4 p.m. The cremation was done with full State honours. Five of her close relatives and Minister Kadakampally Surendran were present.
Five of her close relatives, Minister Kadakampally Surendran and district collector Navjot Khosa, all of them clad in PPE kits, were present.
