Dravidar Kazhagam threatens to burn Gita, Ramayana

Even as protests by Hindu outfits have been gaining momentum against lyricist Vairamuthu comments on Vaishnavite woman saint Andal, Dravidar Kazhagam leader K Veeramani on Friday threatened to burn copies of Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana and Manu Dharma as a counter protest.

Amid protests by saffron groups against the poet who had quoted a thesis saying that Andal was a ‘devadasi’, support for Vairamuthu mounted from several quarters including Leader of Opposition MK Stalin, VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan, musicians and film directors.

Despite both the lyricist and a Tamil daily, which carried his article, apologised for the comments, the threats to besiege the newspaper office is uncivil,”, Stalin said.

Supporting Vairamuthu, NTK leader P Seeman said BJP which hails Sanskrit has nothing to do with Andal.

VCK leader Thirumavalavan demanded the arrest of BJP leader H Raja under NSA for his inflammatory speeches. Veeramani alleged that Raja had resorted to indecent criticism of DMK leader M Karunanidhi’s health condition even though he was not connected with the controversy.

Director Bharathiraja and Ranjit too supported the poet and flayed the protests against him.

Carnatic musician TM Krishna tweeted “Even if Vairamuthu was being nasty, imagine if the reaction had been ‘we celebrate and worship Andal and if she was indeed a Devadasi’, then we respect that too”.