Periyar statue will be removed if BJP comes to power in TN

Chennai: BJP State President K Annamalai said that statues, flags and plaques proclaiming anti-God ideas would be removed from near all temples if the BJP came to power in the State, indirectly referring to the statue of Dravidar Kazhagam founder Periyar E V Ramasamy standing opposite to the Aranganathar Swamy temple in Srirangam.

Addressing a crowd from a stage erected between the Raja Gopuram of the famous Vaishnavite temple and the statue of Periyar in Srirangam, Annamalai said that the day the BJP assumed power would be the last day for the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) department.

At the meeting, organized as part of Annamalai’s ‘En Man, En Makkal’ yatra across the State on its 56th day when he touched the 100th Assembly constituency, he called the DMK rule as anti-people and said that the party had erected flag masts near all temples with a plaque proclaiming ‘there is no God.’

All such flag masts would be uprooted the day the BJP won the elections in the State and the statues of all those who had said there was no God would be removed and replaced with that of freedom fighters and Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar, he said.

All parties in the State were responsible for the destruction of Sanatana Dharma and challenged the leaders of other parties to remove all the plaques below the flag masts that proclaim there was no God if they called themselves as friends of Hindus, he said.

On doing away with the HR & CE department, he said he was making the proclamation at Srirangam because it was that temple there that the DMK interfered with religious activities first after coming to power in 1967.

The DMK rule can be ended only by voting the BJP to power by the people, he said, adding that the BJP was not against any religions and would be the first to give its voice when members of the minority communities faced any problem.