Tension prevailed in Marudur village of Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore district, on Friday, October 14, after a statue of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) founder MG Ramachandran (MGR) was vandalised. The statue was located near the Marudur bus stand and its left hand was broken by miscreants the previous night. The cement statue was inside a grilled enclosure but the front gate of the grill was opened for cleaning the statue ahead of the AIADMK foundation day celebrations on October 17.
AIADMK party workers took out a protest march and demanded police action. The party workers had also filed a complaint in the Avinangudi police station. Based on the complaint, the police have launched an investigation. Bhuvanagiri MLA and senior leader of the AIADMK, Arunamozhithevan led a protest march in front of the Marudur police station. Police protection has been provided for the statue as well.
In a similar incident, a statue of the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister CN Annadurai was defaced in Kandamangalam in Villupuram district on September 25. A garland of slippers was placed on the statue and its head was covered with a flag of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party. A picture of DMK MP A Raja defaced with black and red dots was also placed on the statue.
The Kandamangalam police said that there were no buildings with CCTV cameras, so it was difficult to nab the culprits. The situation was tense in the area so a police contingent was deployed to ensure that no protests broke out.
Meanwhile, Sasikala Natrajan, former secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), took to Twitter to express her condemnation of the incident. She tweeted that the defacement was “an act of cowardice” and asked the Tamil Nadu government to take stringent action against the perpetrators.