Periyar' statue vandalised, 2 held

Chennai: Two persons were on Tuesday arrested at Tirupattur in the district for allegedly vandalising a statue of rationalist leader E.V. Ramasamy, popularly known as “Periyar”.

A senior district police official said the two vandalised a bust-size statue of Ramasasmy in an inebriated state.

The police identified the arrested as Muthuraman and Francis.

While Muthuraman is suspected to be a BJP worker, Francis is believed to be a CPI activist, the police said.

The incident comes against the backdrop of a row over comments made by BJP leader H. Raja indicating that statues of “Periyar” could be the next to be pulled down after a Lenin statue was razed in Tripura.

As the remarks in a facebook post against late Ramasamy, founder of the Dravidian movement, drew condemnation from several political parties in the state, Raja deleted it.

BJP's state unit distanced itself from the issue, saying it was his personal view.

Political parties, including DMK, MDMK and the Left, lashed out at Mr Raja, a BJP national secretary, with DMK working president M.K. Stalin leading the charge seeking his detention under the “Goondas Act”.

“Who is Lenin and what is the connection between Lenin and India? What connection India has with Communists? Today Lenin’s statue removed in Tripura, tomorrow it will be the statue of E.V. Ramasamy in Tamil Nadu”, Mr Raja had said in the Tamil post in facebook that had been deleted.

He was referring to the pulling down of a statue of communist icon Lenin by some persons using an excavator machine at Belonia in South Tripura district, days after the BJP defeated CPI (M) in the closely fought Assembly polls.