BJP leader H Raja warns to pull down Periyar’s statue; DMK demands his arrest under Goondas Act

A day after Russian communist revolutionary Vladmir Lenin’s statue was razed in Tripura, BJP national secretary H Raja on Tuesday raised eyebrows of many in country and Tamil Nadu with his controversial Facebook post on Tuesday morning that warned to pull down statue of social reformer EVR Ramasamy, popularly known as Periyar in a similar fashion.

Raja deleted the post soon after he was strongly criticised.

The BJP national secretary on his Facebook post had written, "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."

Also read: BJP workers bring down Communist icon Lenin's statue in Tripura's Belonia town amid chants of Bharat Mata ki Jai

He had also updated a video of Lenin’s statue being brought down by a bulldozer in Tripura’s Belonia town.

Soon after the post was updated opposition and other political and social leaders demanded arrest of Raja.

DMK working president MK Stalin reacting to H Raja’s post demanded his arrest under Goodas Act and said, “He has been trying to incite violence since long. Nobody can touch or has right to touch Periyar’s statue.”

However BJP sidelined itself from the controversy. BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan said, “We do not support any kind of violence.”