Under fire for comments on Periyar statue, BJP leader H Raja blames Facebook administrator for gaffe

Chennai: Under fire from political parties in Tamil Nadu for his comments on late Dravidian leader Periyar, senior BJP leader H Raja, on Wednesday, sought to blame his ‘Facebook administrator’ for the gaffe and expressed regret over the same. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, he said that “Facebook admin” had put up a post comparing the razing down of Lenin statue in Tripura with that of E V Ramaswamy, popularly addressed as Periyar in Tamil Nadu, without his permission. [caption id=“attachment_4379839” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of H Raja. Image credit: Facebook page of H Raja[/caption] “Views should be confronted by views only and not by violence. I have no intentions of hurting anybody. Therefore, if anybody felt hurt by that post, I express my heartfelt regret,” he said. “It is not acceptable to us to damage any statue of Periyar,” he further said. A row had erupted in Tamil Nadu, on Tuesday, over Raja’s remarks indicating that statues of Periyar could be the next to be pulled down after a Lenin statue was razed in Tripura. As the comments in a Facebook post against the late Ramasamy, founder of the Dravidian movement, drew condemnation from several political parties in the state, Raja deleted it, while BJP’s state unit distanced itself from the issue, saying it was his personal view. Two persons were arrested at Tirupattur in Vellore district on Tuesday for allegedly vandalising a statue of Periyar. A senior district police official said the two persons vandalised a bust-size statue of Ramasasmy in an inebriated state. Click here to follow LIVE updates