Statue vandalism: Another Periyar statue damaged in Tamil Nadu
A statue of social reformer and Dravidian movement icon EV Ramasamy, popularly known as "Periyar", was found damaged in a village on Tuesday, the latest in a series of vandalism incidents. Unidentified persons cut off the head of the statue using a chisel and placed it near the roundtana (traffic-island), police said. On receiving information, police and revenue department officials rushed to the spot.
The statue was repaired and restored within some time
The district authorities swung into action on hearing about the incident, carried out repair works, and restored the statue to its original state by 8 am. The statue unveiled by Dravidar Kazhagam leader K Veeramani in 2013 is maintained by the district unit of the party. A case has been registered, and police have been deployed in the area to prevent any untoward incident.
Two persons arrested on 6 March for similar incident
On 6 March, a statue of the Dravidian leader was allegedly vandalized in Vellore district, and two persons were arrested. The incident assumed political significance as it came after senior BJP leader H Raja indicated that statues of the rationalist leader could be the next to be pulled down after a statue of Communist icon Lenin was razed by suspected BJP workers in Tripura.
