As H Raja continues to provoke on Periyar, EPS-OPS still clueless on how to act

“There is evidence to say that Periyar had said the saniyan (evil) called Tamil should not exist,” said BJP’s H Raja.
As H Raja continues to provoke on Periyar, EPS-OPS still clueless on how to act
As H Raja continues to provoke on Periyar, EPS-OPS still clueless on how to act
Written by:

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam issued a joint statement on Thursday strongly condemning BJP National Secretary H Raja for his provocative Facebook post on Periyar. 

"The people of Tamil Nadu and the AIADMK government will not tolerate any insult to Periyar. We not only love Periyar, but also worship and follow him. This is the land of Periyar. Despite belonging to different religions, people here live unitedly," the statement read.

The statement came after protests across Tamil Nadu over a Facebook post by H Raja stating that after Communist icon Lenin’s statue was razed in Tripura, Dravidian and anti-caste revolutionary EV Ramasamy, popularly known as Periyar, would be next. Hours after the Facebook post, a statue of Periyar was vandalised in Vellore district by two persons – one belonging to the BJP and another to the CPI. H Raja later distanced himself from the Facebook post, and claimed that an administrator who handled his page had posted it without his permission. While he offered his ‘heartfelt regret’ for the post, protesters belonging to various groups marched out to the streets over the insult to Periyar. 

Earlier on Thursday, OPS had said that the government would find out if there was any truth to Raja’s claim that the disparaging comments against Periyar were posted by an admin, reported TOI. Demanding an apology from Raja, OPS said, “Attributing his mistake to his admin is absurd and unacceptable. I demand a public apology from him.” 

Despite the protests and condemnation by several political parties, H Raja appeared in no mood to relent. Speaking to reporters at Dindigul on Thursday, Raja claimed to have evidence of Periyar wanting to destroy Tamil language. “Dravidam is a concept that has been imposed on Tamil people with the intention that even the name of Tamils should not exist in anyway. This wasn’t accepted in Malayalam, Kannada or Telugu. Why is it still being done here (in Tamil Nadu)? Not just that there is evidence to say that EVR had said the saniyan (evil) called Tamil should not exist. I am coming under attack now because people have started believing these truths,” said Raja.  

Over Raja's claims about Periyar's hatred for Tamils, Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar, called it a bogus which should not be bought by the people of Tamil Nadu. 

“This government will not tolerate any attempt to denigrate Tamil. I am warning those trying to create violence and chaos in Tamil Nadu by making such false statements that they will be thrown into jail. Whoever does that, however big and mighty, will be jailed. All are equal before law, be it Raja (king) or Rajaveettupillai (of royal family) and law will take its course”, he said according to the DC report. 

Related Stories

No stories found.
The News Minute
www.thenewsminute.com