The festival season in Tamil Nadu commenced on a stormy note with unpleasant incidents being reported from various parts of the State in connection with Vinayakar Chathurthi and the 139th birth anniversary of EV Ramasamy Naicker, social reformer and founder of the Dravidian movement.
Miscreants reportedly placed footwears on the statue of Naicker at Tiruppur in south western Tamil Nadu on Monday morning. Though the police got the footwears removed immediately, the city witnessed demonstrations condemning the desecration of the statue.
Another miscreant threw his chappals at the statue of Naicker in Chennai’s arterial Mount Road. A crowd which had gathered around the statue to offer floral tributes to the late leader was taken aback by this act of vandalism and caught hold of the miscreant and was handed over to the police.
In Tiruppur, a team of police officers are scanning the entire district to nab the people who vandalised the statue of Naicker. All political parties barring the BJP came out in the open and condemned the attack on the statues.
MK Stalin, DMK president, wanted the Tamil Nadu Government to slap National Security Act on anti-social elements who desecrated Naicker’s statues. The attacks on the statues of Naicker come a day after the communal riots that rocked the southern town of Senkottai.
The town bordering Kerala saw Hindus and Muslim rioting on Thursday. Though there were no untoward incidents during the processions, the day prior to the immersion saw pitched battles between the two communities over the route through which the procession was to take place.
Many shops and vehicles were set ablaze by miscreants as there were stiff opposition to the procession scheduled through streets having Muslim population.
The district administration’s orders not to use high decibel music and slogans like Bharat Mata Ki Jay werechallenged by activists of Hindu Front and devotees of the Lord.
Since they did not get the desired help from the administration, Hindus in the district convened a meeting on Saturday and decided to socially and economically boycott the Muslim community. “Though a peace meeting was held on Sunday at the instance of the district administration, the impasse caused by Vinayaka Chathurthi remained unresolved,” said Sriram, writer and social activist.
Meanwhile, the outburst by H Raja, the national secretary of BJP, at Thirumayam in Pudukottai district against the judiciary and police has resulted in the deterioration of the communal harmony in the State. Raja accused the court and police of corruption and termed them as anti-Hindu. The outburst went viral and the police registered a first information report against him and other Hindu leaders under various sections of the IPC.
Though Raja denied that he had raised allegations against the judiciary and police, Shyamala and C Rajasekar, advocates of Madras High Court said that the BJP leader had bitten more than he could chew.
Last year also Raja was in the news for making allegedly derogatory comments against Naicker. BJP leaders in Tamil Nadu refused to come out to help their colleague . “We are helpless as this is a situation created by Raja himself,” said a senior leader.
