Chennai: DMK workers protest against BJP leader H Raja's comments on Periyar

The DMK workers on Wednesday protested in Chennai's Saidapet area against BJP leader H Raja's comments on social reformer E.V. Ramasamy warning that the statue of social reformer, popularly known as Periyar, will be brought down, just like Russian communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin's statue was razed in Tripura.

"Who is Lenin and what is the connection between Lenin and India? What connection has India with Communists? Lenin's statue has been removed in Tripura. Today it is Lenin's statue in Tripura, tomorrow it will be the statue of caste fanatic EVR Ramasamy," he wrote in Tamil on his Facebook page, along with a video of Lenin's statue being brought down by a bulldozer in Belonia town in south Tripura.

Later on Tuesday evening, a statue of Dravidar Kazhagam founder and social reformer Periyar E.V. Ramasamy near a taluk office in Tiruppattur was vandalised.

The BJP leader, however, deleted the Facebook post after facing a huge backlash in Tamil Nadu and also apologised. He 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 & opinions, not through violence.''

''No intention of hurting anyone. It's not correct to deface the statue of Periyar. I request all of you to maintain peace & carry forward our views on Hinduism in a constructive manner so as to protect values of nationalism on the path shown by Muthuramalinga Thevar,'' H Raja further said.

Meanwhile, DMK RS MP Tiruchi Siva in Rajya Sabha said,''A person's irresponsible words is causing all this harm. We have given notice in Rajya Sabha to discuss this issue.''

OneIndia News