Iffath Fathima By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: The horticulture department has decided to pay floral tribute to Swami Vivekananda for the Republic Day flower show, which will be held from January 17-26. The department will commemorate the 157th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda and also display information on his iconic speech of the Chicago Convention of Parliament of Religions.



It might be recalled that in the year 2013 on the Republic Day flower show, a 35-feet-tall Eiffel Tower model and a six-feet-tall statue of Swamiji was installed to mark his 150th year birth anniversary. However this time, the horticulture has decided to dedicate the entire show to Swamiji alone.

This time Vivekananda’s statue will be 19-feet tall, which will stand on an a three-feet tall pedestal. The department has planned to recreate flower models of the temple in Kanyakumari and memorial hall of Chicago. This apart, Vivekananda’s life history will be put up as notes.

“The entire life story of Vivekananda is hard to find in any one platform. However, visitors who will be visiting this flower show will learn about his whole life. His life, important milestones and messages given to the nation will be put up,” said Dr M Jagadeesh, Joint Director at Horticulture Department of Lalbagh Botanical Gardens.

This apart, the statues of Ramkrishna Paramhansa (Vivekananda’s teacher) and Sarada Devi will also be put up. The department has decided to use more than 12 lakh types of flowers and to procure exotic flowers from 15 different countries,” added Dr Jagadeesh. He further added that a discussion between various officials will be held on Wednesday, where the entire concept will be decided.