Periyar statue vandalised days after clash between Dravidian, Sanghi outfits

Days after the clash between the cadres of Hindu Munnani and Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) in Trichy over a controversial remark by DK leader K Veeramani, a statue of Dravidan ideologue and DK founder, Periyar EV Ramasamy was vandalised on April 8 in Aranthangi, Pudukottai district.

The head of the Periyar statue was founded to be beheaded on April 8 morning and a probe has been ordered.

Condemning the act, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president MK Stalin said that strict action should be taken against the miscreants who are attempting to disrupt peace ahead of the polls.

The Lok Sabha polls along with the bye-election to 18 constituencies in Tamil Nadu is slated for 18 April. Tamil Nadu witnessed similar incidents in March last year, when Periyar’s statue was vandalised at Tirupattur in Vellore after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national secretary H Raja indicated so in a Facebook post. A week later, head of another statue of Periyar in Pudukottai was found razed down.

Last year, just days after BJP defeated the 25 year rule of CPIM regime in the northeastern state Tripura, Russian leader Vladimir Lenin’s statue was razed down in Tripura. Following this, Raja had said in his Facebook post, “Who is Lenin? How is he connected to India? How is communism linked to India? Lenin’s statue destroyed in Tripura. Today Lenin’s statue, tomorrow Tamil Nadu’s EVR Ramaswami’s statue.”

Stalin indicating that BJP was behind these acts, had then remarked, “Cowards who are trying to enter Tamil Nadu through the rear entrance are miscalculating that by destroying Periyar’s statue his ideology could also be struck off.”

Statues of Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee in Kolkata and BR Ambedkar in Meerut, were also vandalised last year, forcing the home ministry to issue an advisory to states to take all necessary measures over incidents of toppling of statues.