Less than 24 hours after the BJP in Tamil Nadu stoked controversy by threatening to vandalise statues of social activist and politician EV Ramasamy, a statue of 'Periyar' has been vandalised in Vellore.
According to the police, the act of vandalism occured at around 9:15 in Tirupattur in Vellore district on Tuesday, 6 March. The two men, Muthuraman and Francis, involved in the act were allegedly drunk. The statue was reportedly in front a government building.
"They are friends and were drunk. The two men damaged the glasses and the nose of the statue. They were arrested immediately," says Vellore SP P Pagalvan.
While Muthuraman is a member of the BJP, the SP told TNM that Francis was a member of the CPI. However, earlier police officials told Tamil media that Francis was a member of Naam Tamilar party. Muthuraman's bike was also seized from the spot.
This attempt to vandalise the statue, comes soon after BJP leaders in Tamil Nadu celebrated the fall of the Communist government in Tripura, while issuing a warning to Dravidian parties.
An alarming remark was posted from the verified Facebook page of BJP National Secretary H Raja, stating, "Who is Lenin? What is his connection to India? What is the connection of communists to India? Lenin's statue was destroyed in Tripura. Today Lenin's statue, tomorrow Tamil Nadu's EVR Ramaswami's statue."
The BJP leader however deleted the Facebook post after facing major backlash for it, in Tamil Nadu.
Reacting to the post on the Facebook page, MK Stalin said:
No one can even dare to touch EVR’s statue. H Raja’s comments are done to incite violence. He has been repeatedly doing this. He should be arrested and Goondas Act slapped against him.
As soon as the DMK opposed the comment, H Raja distanced himself from the Facebook post and said that the page was maintained by various administrators. The post was soon deleted.
Several other members of BJP in the state, including the Vice President of BJP Youth wing SG Suryah made similar observations.
In his tweet, Suryah says, “BJP successfully completed the fall of Lenin in #Tripura! Can't wait for the fall of EV Ramasamy statues in Tamil Nadu.”
(This article was originally published on The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)
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