Malayali who brought President closer to the common man
Malayali who brought President closer to the common man
Sudha Nambudiri| TNN | Feb 28, 2017, 09.59 AM IST
KOCHI: As Pranab Mukherjee completes his term in July this year, he will leave the Rashtrapati Bhavan as the president who opened his official residence to the common man. And one of the officials who played a role in facilitating this development is a Keralite, Venu Rajamony, who is the President’s press secretary.
“I would like to link it to my initial years as a journalist in Kochi that facilitated my public career in the foreign service. Since the posting often requires keeping in touch with the Indian citizens abroad as well as the national and international media, the Government of India has given me assignments that require using my journalistic skills,” Rajamony said.
“At Rashtrapati Bhavan, we introduced an innovative scheme, `in-residence’ programmes for artists and writers, who have established themselves in the field of art and literature. They can stay at the Rashtrapati Bhavan for a month and use the huge collections there for reference or for any new creative work,” Rajamony added.
The Rashtrapati Bhavan’s website has been ma de live with people being able to make bookings for siteseeing. “We have activated our social media network too with an FB page and a twitter handle.” One of his successful ventures has been the art catalogue of the paintings of Rashtrapati Bhavan. “People can just click on the photograph of any painting and see the work in good clarity.
Even during his foreign stint in China, Venu Rajamony used his journalistic skills to come out with a news magazine.
“It has helped during this assignment too as the President’s press secretary.It has been easier to work with both Indian and fore ign media when foreign leaders come on a state visit to India. With the President supporting the initiatives, we have managed to bring in lot of changes, including opening the presidential palace to the general public.”
Rajamony who is in Kochi to finalize preparations for the President’s visit to Kochi, which includes a K S Rajamony commemorative lecture on “India @ 70” on Thursday. “Our family hosts the lecture in memory of my father who was an advocate. It is a great honour to have the President agrees to come and deliver the lecture. This is the 8th visit of the President to Kerala, probably the only place he would have visited will be West Bengal. The president has a strong liking for Kerala,” he said.
