The burning of lord Rama in effigy by the activists of Thanthai Periyar Dravida Kazhakam at Chennai on October 12 has caused wide resentment among the Hindu community in Tamil Nadu. Shiv Sena’s Tamil Nadu wing has sent a representation to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh expressing their resentment and protest over the action of TPDK, a frontal organisation of the banned liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (lTTE).
G Radhakrishnan, Tamil Nadu president of Shiv Sena, in a letter to the Union Home Minister, pointed out that the TPDK burnt lord Rama in effigy in spite of the police refusing them permission to stage such an event. “They had made elaborate arrangements and preparations for this event. Though the TPDK gave wide publicity about the event, neither the State Government nor the police did take any action to stop it,” said Radhakrishnan. He asked the Union Home Minister to ban organisations like TPDK which insult and hurt the sentiments of the Hindus and also arrest the people behind such events under the NSA.
Radhakrishnan said, the police, instead of preventing the TPDK volunteers from burning the pictures of lord Rama, arrested the activists of various Hindu outfits who staged a protest against the derogatory deeds of this pro-lTTE organisation. V Elango, a spokesman of the TPDK, said they had observed Ravan leela instead of Ram leela and that was why Rama was burnt in effigy.
“Rama is an Aryan and Ravana is a Dravidian. The Aryans in north India are celebrating the victory of Rama over the Dravidians and that is why we celebrate Ravana leela in South India,” said Elango.
When he was asked about the research works carried out by international scientific teams which scientifically proved that the theory of Aryan and Dravidian divide was not correct, Elango said his organisation had not heard about such research activities. “The President of India himself chose to stay away from Ram leela because of our request. We had written to the President requesting hom not to participate in this function and that why he chose to stay away from Ram leela,” claimed Elango.
The Shiv Sena president also said the organisation would be soon launching state-wide agitation demanding the arrest under the National Security Act of those who defame or humiliates Hindu gods.