Periyar's statue vandalised in Tamil Nadu's Tiruppur on his 139th birth anniversary; footwear found on its head

A statue of Tamil icon and rationalist leader EV Ramasamy, famously known as Periyar, was found to have been vandalised by unidentified miscreants on Monday, with a pair of slippers kept on top of it. The statue is located in Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu. Police are investigating the incident, which occurred on Periyar’s 139th birth anniversary. [caption id=“attachment_5200811” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A pair of shoes kept on top of Periyar’s statue. ANI[/caption] According to CNN News18, another incident was reported in Chennai involving an advocate, identified as Jagadeesan, who allegedly hurled a shoe at the social reformer’s statue on Mount Road, leading to a scuffle. Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) party workers nabbed the lawyer and handed him over to the Chennai Police for questioning. This is not the first time that the Tamil icon’s statue was vandalised. In March 2018, unidentified persons had damaged Periyar’s statue in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district . This incident had occured hours after Tamil Nadu BJP leader H Raja said that Periyar would meet a fate similar to Lenin, whose statue had been pulled down in Agartala. Fisheries minister D Jayakumar reacted to the vandalism, saying that the Tamil Nadu government will take strong action against miscreants who were responsible for the vandalisation of the statue. DMK president MK Stalin also condemned the vandalism and demanded that the miscreants be arrested under the National Security Act. With inputs from ANI