Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Friday condemned the recent incident in Puducherry, in which a statue of AIADMK founder and former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran was found with a saffron shawl.
The AIADMK co-coordinator contended that Tamils would not accept the “conspiracy of a few people to disturb national integration and unity only for survival in vote politics.”
In a strongly-worded statement, he said the act of some miscreants putting a saffron shawl on the late leader’s statue was hurtful and regretful. “It is against human civilization to hurt others’ sentiments in the name of freedom of expression. The Tamils will not accept the conspiracy of a few people, who are attempting to disturb the national integration and unity on linguistic, communal, religious and caste lines only for survival in vote politics.”
Condemning the incident as a “barbaric act,” Mr. Palaniswami said it was regretful that the statues of great leaders, who had served the society, were being damaged and insulted. The people's beliefs should be respected, he said.
He urged the Puducherry Chief Minister to identify the miscreants and also those “anti-social elements” behind them, bring them to book and expose them to the society.
MGR, the late AIADMK founder and a Bharat Ratna recipient, remained a symbol of equality beyond religious and caste lines and had his rightful places in the minds of the poor and the downtrodden, and also continued to be an unparalleled leader for Tamils living across the world, Mr. Palaniswami said.
AIADMK coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, in a tweet on Thursday night, strongly condemned the incident. He also urged the Puducherry government to initiate severe action against those responsible for the incident.
The statue of the late AIADMK founder, located on the Puducherry-Villianur Road, was found with a saffron shawl around its neck on Thursday afternoon. The Villianur police have registered a case over the incident.
