Gen. Thimmaiah’s statue destroyed Codavas wants it reinstated in the same place

Madikeri: In a horrific road accident, the statue of General Thimmiah was mowed down and destroyed by an errantly run KSRTC bus on Sunday night could be a deliberately engineered incident according to the Codava leaders. The Codava National Council (CNC) chief N U Nachappa Codava has demanded a detailed police inquiry into the incident and wanted the state government to act swiftly before the evidence of the ‘crimes wiped off by scheming politicians and their henchmen.

“It is made out to look like a freak accident, but I and my cohorts feel that it could be an engineered incident by politicians. Just after a few hours of the incident, the local municipal council members issued a statement saying that General Thimmaiah’s statue has to be erected elsewhere away from the city”.

“This statement smacks of a clandestine move to acquire the land where the statue stood for 50 years and allot it to some private parties, the politicians sitting in Bengaluru may be behind this sinister ploy,” Nachappa added.

The statue of General K. S. Thimmiah had been a landmark not just to Madikeri town but to the entire country, which served as a tribute to the valiant soldier, a general, and a great human being. In fact, the Statue was not an impediment to the movement of traffic at that location, the Codava National Council. A furious Nachappa and the elder members of the CNC have demanded immediate action.

There have been repeated insults meted out to the Generals of Kodagu, “25 years ago, another statue of Field Marshall Cariappa was desecrated with a garland of footwear 15 years back and 25 years back cow dung was smeared all over the statue of General Thimmaiah. On both occasions, the politicians at the municipality raised a hue and cry to shift the statues away from Madikeri city, which shows there is a group of people who are plotting against the statues.” says Nachappa. This time they have destroyed the Statue of General Thimmiah, and soon there could be one more attack on the statue of Field Marshall Cariappa, the Codavas fear. On both occasions, the real perpetrators of the crimes have escaped, and some innocent people have been wrongly implicated and punished.

General Thimmaiah's statue is a great pride not only for his community, the Codava Race but also to Coorg, Karnataka, India. As Commander of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, General Thimmaiah has demonstrated outstanding valour and military leadership. His stature must be respected by the entire country, if not the world's military leadership and civilian governments.

The erection of General Thimmaiah’s statue was done in 1973, when MC Nanaiah was the former town municipal president. It could be recalled that after the death of General Thimmaiah, M. C. Nanaiah had brought the great warrior and general of India, Field Marshall Manikshaw, to inaugurate the same statue that was felled on Sunday night.

The Codavas known for their love for the nation and their service to the armed forces of the country, will appeal to the Government of India and the Government of Karnataka to waste no more time in building a new memorial for General Thimmiah in the same place. “In addition, the CNC will also bring the incident on Sunday, compounded with the attempts to desecrate the statues, to the attention of the chiefs of the Defence Services with an appeal to re-establish the statue of General Thimmaiah in the place it stood for the last 50 years, the CNC members said.

The investigation made by Hans India found out that the bus that rammed into the statue was empty and was going to the bus stand from the depot at 5.30 a.m.

In another attempt to wipe off the monuments of Codava in Kodagu, an earth mover was used a few years ago to remove the inscription at a place called Devattparamb, where Tippu Sultan, combined with the French forces, massacred unarmed Coadavs by deceit The Codavas are fighting a bitter battle in various courts over this conspiracy against their legacy.