BJP Tamil Nadu chief expels party leader arrested for vandalising Periyar statue

Sivakasi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tamil Nadu president, Tamilisai Soundararajan expelled R Muthuraman, party functionary, on Wednesday.

Muthuraman was arrested for vandalising the statue of social reformer Periyar (EV Ramasamy) at Thirupathur in Vellore district.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also strongly disapproved incidents of vandalism, reported from several parts of the country.

Also read: PM condemns vandalism of statues, Home asks states to take action

Meanwhile, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) working President MK Stalin also demanded the arrest of H Raja, following his now deleted controversial post on Facebook, in which the latter had written that the statue of Periyar would be razed just like Vladimir Lenin's statue in Tripura.

The post read, "Who is Lenin and what is the connection between Lenin and India? What connection has India with Communists? Lenin's statue has been removed in Tripura. Today it is Lenin's statue in Tripura, tomorrow it will be the statue of caste fanatic EVR Ramasamy."

Also read: Hours after BJP leader's Facebook post, Periyar statue vandalised in Vellore

Raja however apologised for the same, by saying that the post was done by one of the administrators of his page, without his permission.