Petrol bomb hurled at BJP office in Coimbatore

Unidentified persons on Wednesday hurled petrol bombs at a BJP office in Coimbatore on Wednesday early morning. No injuries or damages were reported from the incident. The CCTV footage shows two persons throwing the bombs at the BJP office and fleeing. This comes a day after BJP leader H Raja raised threats against Periyar statues in the state, following which two men were arrested for vandalising a Periyar statue in Vellore. Police said the arrested men, Muthuraman and Francis, were drunk. While Muthuraman is a BJP worker, his friend Francis belongs to a Communist party.

On Tuesday, the BJP leader made a controversial remark saying that statue of Dravidian icon E V Ramasamy ‘Periyar’ ‘will be brought down’. In a Facebook post on Tuesday along with a video of a Lenin statue being bulldozed in Tripura, H Raja said: “Who is Lenin? What is his relevance in India? Why is India connected to Communism? Yesterday, Lenin statue was brought down in Tripura. Tomorrow, statues of caste fanatic E V Ramaswamy Periyar will be brought down.” Also Read: Hours after BJP leader H Raja’s post, Periyar statue vandalised in Tamil Nadu

Raja’s remarks invited strong criticism from different political groups and he later deleted the post. Periyar, founder of the Dravida Kazhagam party who had also led the self-respect movement, is revered in Tamil Nadu, irrespective of political affiliations.

DMK working president M K Stalin reacted strongly to Raja’s statement and demanded his arrest. He said, “Nobody has the right to touch Periyar’s statue. He (Raja) has been doing this for a long time to incite violence. He should be arrested under Goondas Act and put behind bars.”

Dalit party VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan said, “Forget about Raja, not even his forefathers would have been able to touch Periyar’s statue,” told The Indian Express.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu BJP distanced itself from Raja’s statement. BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan said: “His statement about removing Periyar statue was his personal opinion.” The BJP, she said, also had no role in destroying Lenin’s statue in Tripura.

(with ENS inputs)

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