The inauguration of the silver jubilee of the India Muziris and Heritage Centre in Kozhikode on Saturday, which was envisaged as a platform to unite people of varying ideologies, seemed not to have yielded the desired result as Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama president Syed Muhammed Jifri Muthukoya Thangal, the chief guest, failed to turn up for the event which was attended by Goa Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai.
“Thangal backed out of the event claiming that he did not want to create unnecessary controversies,” Attakoya Pallikkandy, patron of the India Muziris and Heritage Centre, told The Hindu.
The other invited guests such as Thottathil Raveendran, MLA, and musician Kaithapram Damodaran also failed to turn up.
Inaugurating the celebrations, Mr. Pillai said interpersonal relationships were the key to avoiding conflicts. “Hatred is being harvested in Kerala these days,” he commented, adding that confluence, not conflict, was the need of the hour. “A relationship is not based on barter system. It is a sharing of love,” he observed.
Mr. Pillai presented the award for the best Arab-Kerala historical work to Syed Hashim Shihab Thangal for his work Payakappal that traced the history of Kerala’s cultural and friendly relationship with the Arab countries over centuries.
“The lack of proper naval presence was one of the reasons why the Europeans could colonise us. It is necessary to nurture a generation that is aware of such historical facts,” Mr. Pillai said. Mr. Pallikkandi presided over the event.
