H Raja apologises for his 'Periyar' post

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader H. Raja on Wednesday apologised for his Facebook post on social reformer Periyar (EVR Ramasamy), which created a storm in Tamil Nadu.

Raja in his post wrote that the statue of Periyar would be razed just like Vladimir Lenin's statue in Tripura.

In the apology, Raja said that the post was done by one of the administrators of his page, without his permission.

"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,"

Clarifying his stand, Raja said he had no intention of hurting anyone.

"We have to respond to statements and opinions, not through violence. I have no intention of hurting anyone. It is not correct to deface the statue of Periyar," he added.

He further requested the people to maintain peace and carry forward views on Hinduism in a constructive manner.

"I request all of you to maintain peace and carry forward our views on hinduism in constructive manner so as to protect values of nationalism on the path shown by Muthuramalinga Thevar," he added.

Raja, in his now-deleted Facebook post, wrote, "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".

Periyar's statue, located inside the Tirupattur corporation office, was vandalised on Tuesday night in Tamil Nadu's Vellore district.

Earlier in the day, a petrol bomb was hurled at the BJP's office in Coimbatore by unidentified miscreants, after Periyar's statue was vandalised here.

It was in Tripura that the first incident of a statue being razed surfaced.

Statue of communist icon Vladimir Lenin was razed after the BJP swept the Left front government out of power in the assembly elections.

Reacting to Raja's post, many political parties, including Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), MDMK and the Left lashed out at Raja seeking his detention under the 'Goondas Act'.

DMK working president M K Stalin was the first to react.

He said "No one can dare to touch EVR's statue".

--ANI