Chennai: BJP National Secretary H. Raja on Tuesday faced the ire of several parties over a message he posted in the social media. He said, “Who is Lenin? What is the connection between him (Lenin) and India? What connection between Communism and India? Lenin’s statue was broken down in Tripura. Today it is Lenin’s statue in Tripura and tomorrow it will be the statue of caste fanatic E.V. Ramasamy.”
However, after facing a huge backlash in Tamil Nadu, he deleted the facebook post, NDTV reported.
Rationalist Ramasamy or Periyar — as he is respectfully called in Tamil Nadu — is considered as a tall leader of the Dravidian movement. He founded the self-respect movement in the state.The comment touched a raw nerve among the leaders of various political parties in the state.
DMK leader Stalin said he is of the view that Raja should be arrested under the Goondas Act for his “violence-provoking views”. MDMK leader Vaiko challenged Raja to try and remove Periyar’s statue. Congress spokesperson Khushbu Sundar said even Raja’s shadow cannot touch Periyar’s statue. She also wondered why the ruling AIADMK is silent about Raja’s comments when they are critical of Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth.
Responding to a query, state BJP leader Tamizhisai Soundararajan said it can be the views of Raja and not that of the party.
Meanwhile, the post-poll violence in Tripura continued for the fourth day on Tuesday even as the administration, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) urged everyone to maintain peace.
According to a leader of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the 11.5-feet fibre statue of Vladimir Lenin was brought down with a bulldozer by the BJP activists on Monday evening. “The BJP supporters, chanting “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, knocked down the statue of Lenin near a government college in Belonia,” CPI-M leader Haripada Das told the media on Tuesday.
He said the statue was set up a year ago in Belonia, South Tripura’s district headquarters, around 90 km from Agartala. “We are getting huge number of reports from different districts on Tuesday about BJP and IPFT workers attacking CPI-M members and supporters and demolishing their various assets,” Das added.
Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy on Tuesday, in a tweet said: “What one democratically elected government can do another democratically elected government can undo. And vice versa.”
Roy is believed to have referred to instances of statues of leaders iconic to other parties demolished or defiled in the past in the state.
A media report said Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday spoke to the Governor and Tripura Police chief Akhil Kumar Shukla, requesting them to take steps to control the violence in the northeastern state, ahead of the swearing-in-ceremony of the new BJP government.
With inputs from IANS