The BJP on Wednesday swung into damage control mode in the face of severe backlash after its supporters allegedly brought down statues of Soviet leader Lenin in Tripura and a Facebook post (now deleted and denied) by its office bearer asking for the defacement of Dravidian ideologue, Periyar.
Party president Amit Shah spoke to units in both Tripura and Tamil Nadu to counsel peace and to initiate action against those who were party to any defacement. “I have spoken to the party units in both Tamil Nadu and Tripura. Any person associated with the BJP found to be involved with destroying any statue will face severe action from the party,” he said in a tweet.
Tamil Nadu BJP chief Tamilsai Soundarajan expelled R. Muthuraman, a party functionary who was arrested for damaging a Periyar statue in Tiruppattur in Vellore district on Tuesday.
BJP general secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu , P. Muralidhar Rao too expressed his anger at the incidents. “BJP does not subscribe to any kind of provoking or disrespectful statements and actions of vandalism towards leaders like Periyar. We condemn outrightly those people who are indulging in such actions,” he said on Twitter.
National secretary of the BJP, H. Raja, whose Facebook post created the controversy said that he had not posted the matter and that someone else with access to his social media account had done so.
