The pulling down of the lenin statue in Tripura following the BJP’s win in the recently held Assembly elections had ramifications in Dravidian Tamil Nadu as some unidentified elements vandalised on late Tuesday a statue of Dravida Kazhakam founder EV Ramasamy Naicker at Thiruppattur in Vellore district.
According to sources in Tamil Nadu Intelligence wing, the attack on the statue of Naicker, popularly known as Periyar, took place following a social media posting by H Raja, the BJP’s national secretary. Security has been beefed up around all statues of Naicker in Tamil Nadu following Tuesday night’s incident. “Today it was lenin’s statue in Tripura. Tomorrow it will be the statue of Ramasamy Naicker who is a casteist,” Raja had posted in his social media page.
But the BJP leader claimed that it was done without his knowledge or concurrence by the group administrator. The posting was taken off the site following the attack on the statue of Naicker.
There was widespread condemnation on the attack from all non-BJP parties and Tamil nationalists alike. M K Stalin, DMK working president and leader of the opposition in Tamil Nadu assembly called for the arrest of Raja under goonda’s act for the incident.
“Raja has been expressing views with the intention of inciting violence and he should be arrested under the Goonda’s Act,” said Stalin while speaking to reporters at Chennai.
Naicker is an icon for the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu, be it DMK or the AIADMK. His pictures are displayed prominently by these parties during all public functions.
The most vitriolic reaction came from Vaiko, leader of the MDMK who warned that he would chop off the hands of anyone touching Naicker’s Statues with evil intentions.
leaders of the CPI(M), CPI, Congress, Dravida Kazhakam too came down heavily on the social media message posted by Raja. Two persons have been arrested by the police on Wednesday following a complaint lodged by the Dravida Kazhakam office bearers of Vellore .
R Muthuraman (42) and his nephew Silambarasan (28) have been taken into custody by the police from Tiruppattur itself. According to local media, Muthuraman is a BJP activist while Silambarasan is a CPI worker.