Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has thanked the world football body, FIFA, for recognising the state's love of the beautiful game in the build-up to the World Cup in Qatar.
"Kerala and Keralites have always loved football and it is on full display with Qatar 2022 around the corner. Thank you FIFA for acknowledging our unmatched passion for the sport," tweeted Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday.
The Kerala CM had quote-tweeted FIFA that hailed the 'World Cup fever' in Kerala by posting a photograph of three giant cut-outs that fans have raised in a river in Pullavoor in Kozhikode.
"Giant cutouts of Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi popped up on a local river ahead of the tournament," FIFA tweeted.
It was a local supporters group of Argentina that acted first by bringing up a 30 feet cut-out of its talisman Lionel Messi.
A few days later, a 35ft cut-out of Neymar followed and more recently, Cristiano Ronaldo's towering 50ft cut-out came up in the same part of the river offering a visual treat.
With the Kerala CM joining in the World Cup fervour of Malabar, it is safe to say the speculations over the removal of the cut-outs have been put to rest. An activist had petitioned the local body saying the cut-outs obstruct the flow of the river and threatens to contribute to water pollution.
The other day, MLA PTA Rahim had said that there was no basis in the argument that the cutouts should be removed. "It is with the game of football that unites people across countries and languages - We Stand with the joy of football fans," Rahim had tweeted.
