Parties using saint poet for political gains, says Vijayakant 

“Thiruvalluvar is common for Tamils and Tamil Nadu. He does not belong to any one caste or religion. So far, political parties have been doing politics on statues of leaders but now they have started to use Thiruvalluvar for political gains,” said Vijayakant, who also condemned the political parties for creating a row.

The politics of Thiruvalluvar was first started by the BJP state unit when it posted an image of Thiruvalluvar clad in saffron.

The image created a huge controversy in the state as there were several criticisms of BJP for accusing it of communalising Thiruvalluvar.

Several political party leaders reacted to the issue and the issue took an ugly turn when Thiruvalluvar statue was desecrated in Pillayarpatti in Thanjavur. Taking a dig indirectly at the BJP and other Hindu parties, Vijayakant said, “Thiruvalluvar is common to all and political parties should avoid playing politics with the saint poet.”

He further said that the issue will create law and order problem in the state and the state government should focus on theissue to prevent further escalation of tension in the state.