Kayyara Kinhanna Rai was a great poet and a patriot, said writer Kundoor Ashok.

Speaking at a programme organised by district Kannada Sahitya Parishat at Kannada Bhavan in Chikkamagaluru, he said that Rai was a great revolutionist who relentlessly took part in two landmark movements - freedom struggle and unification of Karnataka.

He also strived for the merger of Kasargod with Karnataka. His works in a wide array of literary forms like poetry, review, biography, translation and plays, hold testimony to his talent.

He was a multilingual scholar. His poems on the theme of patriotism, which he penned for children, are being remembered even to this day, Ashok said and added that Rai rekindled Kannada spirit in the minds of people, by continuously striving for the merger of Kasargod into Karnataka.

Janapada Parishat district unit president S S Venkatesh also spoke on the occasion.
Kannada Sahitya Parishat district president N S Shivaswamy presided over the programme and called Kayyara Kinhanna Rai, a patriot poet Chikkamagaluru Taluk Kannada Sahitya Parishat resident B R Jagadish and others were present on the occasion.