'Schizophrenic' CRPF personnel arrested for vandalising Periyar statue

Periyar is remembered for the Self Respect Movement to redeem the identity and self-respect of Tamils.

A CRPF personnel has been arrested for allegedly vandalising social icon Periyar's staue in Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu. The arrested individual, said to be Schizophrenic, was on a 30-day leave when the the incident took place. He has been suspended from service, said reports.

Days after a statue of EV Ramasamy, fondly called Periyar, was vandalised in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, another statue of the Dravidian movement icon was found damaged in Pudukkottai on Tuesday (March 20).

Born in 1879, Periyar is remembered for the Self Respect Movement to redeem the identity and self-respect of Tamils. He envisaged a Dravida homeland of Dravida Nadu and launched a political party, Dravidar Kazhagam (DK).

On March 7, Periyar's statue at Tirupattur in Vellore was vandalised hours after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national secretary H. Raja's controversial Facebook post. Two persons were arrested in connection with the incident.

The attack on Periyar statue in Vellore came after the statue of Russian revolutionary Lenin was demolished in Tripura, allegedly by the BJP members. Lenin statue was brought down after BJP won the Tripura Assembly elections.

Soon after Lenin's statue was demolished, H Raja had posted, "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."

Raja later apologized for his controversial Facebook post and said "The post in my FB was done by one of the admins of my page without my permission. As soon as I came to know about it, I deleted the post. We have to respond through statements and opinions, not through violence."

According to reports, hours after a Periyar statue was vandalised in Vellore, several petrol bombs were thrown at the BJP office in Gandhipuram in Coimbatore.

OneIndia News