Day after Periyar statue damaged, sacred thread of 10 cut off in Chennai

A senior officer said the incident took place around 7.30 am within the limits of Ice House police station in Triplicane. “We suspect that eight people targeted people walking on Nallathambi street. They targeted those who were bare chested and returning from a nearby temple. Only one of them agreed to file a complaint; the others were afraid to give an official statement.”

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As they forcibly stopped the men and tore off their sacred threads, the accused allegedly shouted slogans hailing Periyar, witnesses have told the police.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan said that Muthuraman, one of the accused in damaging Periyar’s statue, has been removed from the party’s primary membership.

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The state leadership of Communist Party of India (CPI) denied reports that Francis, the second accused and a friend of Muthuraman, was a CPI member. Party leaders said party removed him from the membership two years ago.
In the early hours of the day, petrol bombs were thrown at the BJP office in Coimbatore. Two men, said to belong to Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam outfit, were arrested later in the day.

With intelligence reports predicting violence, the state government had deployed hundreds of police and security personnel to guard statues of Periyar and offices of the BJP in the state since Tuesday evening. Protests were held across the state to condemn the BJP’s violent politics and threats.

“No one has the guts to touch Periyar’s statues in Tamil Nadu. (BJP leader) Raja talks like this only to create tension among the people. He must be detained under Goondas Act,” DMK working president M K Stalin told
reporters.

Dravidar Kazhagam party cadres demanded Raja’s arrest and burnt his effigies at many places, including Erode.
Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan demanded that the BJP leadership should take action against Raja for his provocative social media post. “But I know they will not (act). Inaction is their character,” Haasan said.

He said there is no need to deploy police personnel to guard Periyar statues in the state because Tamil people will guard them. “We will take care of the security of Periyar statues. Security may be given to those who speak ill about Periyar — (it) may be useful for them,” he said.