“EVR Statue Outside All Temples Will Be Removed Once BJP Comes To Power”: BJP TN Chief Annamalai Declares

Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai has touched the raw nerve of the DMK and other Dravidianist parties saying that the statue of EV Ramasamy Naicker (hailed as ‘Periyar’ by his followers) outside the Ranganathar Temple in Srirangam and all other temples would be removed once BJP comes to power in the state.

Addressing a massive crowd in Srirangam on 7 November 2023, Annamalai said “Outside this (Ranganathar) temple, once the DMK came to power in 1967, they kept a plaque. What does that plaque say? ‘Those who believe in God are idiots, cheats. Don’t believe in God.’ As if they’ve achieved something big, they’ve installed such a plaque with a flag. We Hindus are people who live peacefully following the path of dharma.”

Adding further, the BJP Tamil Nadu chief said “Today, from this land of Srirangam, the BJP is taking a vow. Once the BJP comes to power in Tamil Nadu, the first task would be to remove that plaque and flagpole outside the temple. Statues of Azhwars and Nayanmars would be installed. Statues of Tamil scholars would be erected. Tamil scholar Thiruvalluvar’s statue will be installed. Those who sacrificed their lives during the freedom movement, their statues would be installed and worshipped. Not the statue which says ‘Those who believe in God are idiots’. As soon as the BJP comes to power, the BJP government would remove all such statues placed outside all temples.”

A 12-feet-high EVR statute outside Srirangam temple was installed be K. Veeramani, the head of the rabid anti-Hindu outfit Dravidar Kazhagam founded by EVR in the December 2006.

The event saw the attendance of A Raja, the then Union Minister for Environment and Forests, as well as State Ministers K N Nehru and N Selvaraj. The DK installed the statue, despite facing vehement protests from various Hindu organizations. These protests were rooted in concerns that placing the statue of an atheist and inscribing atheist slogans on the pedestal could potentially offend the religious sentiments of devout Hindus. Notably, several parts of Tamil Nadu experienced isolated incidents of violence after activists from the Indhu Makkal Katchi (IMK) damaged a life-size cement statue of Periyar on 7 December 2006.

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