CHENNAI: VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan on Monday stated that the Erode East bypoll result has once again proven that the attempts by the Sangh parivar and its allied political forces to defame Periyar and undermine the Dravidian ideology have failed miserably.

The Chidambaram MP expressed concern that the weakening of the principal opposition, the AIADMK, is detrimental to the State and criticised the party for boycotting the February 5 bypoll.

“The divisive forces, operating like the tentacles of the Sangh Parivar, have been trying to tarnish the image of Periyar and dilute the Dravidian ideology to gain a foothold here. They have also used people from the state as their tools to achieve their ultimate goal. However, they failed then, and they are failing now,” Thiruma said while addressing the media after meeting Chief Minister

MK Stalin at the Secretariat.

“On every occasion, they have failed miserably,” he continued, adding that the right-wing forces failed to understand that the Dravidian ideology existed long before Periyar. It was championed by leaders such as Pandithar Ayothidasar and Rettamalai R Srinivasan, and anti-Aryan politics had been vigorously pursued even before Periyar’s time.

“Periyar took forward the campaign and emerged as a champion of social justice and an icon of Dravidian politics. The conspiracies against him have always ended in failure, and this was repeated once again in the Erode East bypoll,” he said and continued that some vested interests with ulterior motives had allied with the right-wing forces in their political game against Periyar and Dravidian politics, only to face the same fate.