Encouraging the girl students to achieve big things in their lives, Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi said on Saturday that they have plenty of scope and opportunities.
She was speaking at the 140th birth anniversary of Mahakavi Bharathi at Ettayapuram here in the district and also gave away prizes to winners of various contests on the occasion.
The MP said that she was overwhelmed to hear about the huge participation. About 2,000 students had participated in the competitions and it reflected not only on the popularity of the poet, but also the involvement of students, particularly girls.
Normally, parents encourage their girl children to go to schools and colleges and finally get them married. However, Ms Kanimozhi said that in today’s world, there were aplenty of opportunities. Hence, girl students should explore new avenues and rise up to the occasion.
“By thinking big, you can achieve bigger...Thus, you can bring home more and more laurels,” she stressed.
Poet Bharathi remained popular even today and this showed his involvement as a poet. And as a poet, he could not eke out a living but his principles, the grit and determination he displayed till his death were some of the finest qualities, that makes him relevant even today, she said and added that the youth should imbibe these qualities.
The late poet had always insisted on dreaming big and thus setting the tone for achieving the goal. When a young girl said at the meeting that her dream was to become the Collector of Thoothukudi District, Ms Kanimozhi lauded the student and wished her good luck.
Ministers Thangam Thennarasu, Geetha Jeevan, Mahesh Anbil Poyyamozhi, MLAs and a large number of poets from the district participated.
District Collector K Senthil Raj welcomed the gathering.
On the occasion, representatives from various literary forums in Thoothukudi and neighbouring districts garlanded the statue of Bharati and sang songs on the occasion. Many voluntary organisations also gave away prizes to the students who had won in the competition held marking the poet’s birth anniversary.
