After 18 years in limbo, a statue of Tamil poet-saint Tiruvalluvar will be unveiled in Bangalore on Sunday by chief ministers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu — B S Yeddyurappa and M Karunanidhi — in a high security ceremony.

In an effort to keep in check Kannada activists opposed to the unveiling, the Karnataka Police on Saturday went into overdrive of preventive arrests of possible trouble-makers. Nearly 150 members of Kannada groups, including veteran Vatal Nagaraj and a horde of newcomers, have been placed under arrest.

Nagaraj of the Kannada Chaluvali Paksha, who has voiced fears of threats to Kannada culture and language for four decades now, has called for a bandh in Bangalore on Sunday to protest the unveiling of the statue.

Yeddyurappa, who has been chiefly instrumental in ending the 18-year-old stalemate over the unveiling of the statue by seeking rapprochement with Karunanidhi has put a lot of effort in ensuring that the unveiling happens without any hitch.

The Karnataka CM is hoping to remove legal hurdles imposed in Tamil Nadu to the declaration of Kannada as a classical language through his statue diplomacy and is also said to be looking to curry favour with a sizable Tamil population in Bangalore ahead of the city civic polls. He has described the unveiling as a “noble cause” that would give a “further fillip to brotherhood” between the people of the two states.

The pro-Kannada groups have tried various means to prevent the Sunday unveiling, including approaching the Karnataka High Court and the State Election Commission. The High Court has ruled that no organisation or individual or groups should protest or declare a bandh against the unveiling of the statue.

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