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Thanjai revenue officials start works to fence desecrated Thiruvalluvar statue
In order to prevent entry of outsiders close to the Thiruvalluvar statue at Pillayarpatti in Thanjavur, the police started erecting a fence around the statue on Thursday. A heavy force of police has been deputed on duty to avert any untoward incidents.
Thiruchirapalli
After a series of protests by the members of various political parties and outfits owing to the desecration of Thiruvalluvar statue, more than 100 police personnel were posted on Thursday to prevent further protests and avoid any untoward incidents. Still, some outfit members reportedly made a beeline to Pillayarpatti to garland the statue of Thiruvalluvar.
Subsequently, the police placed barricades at the entry point of the village to prevent outsiders from entering the village. The police, who stopped the people at the Pillayarpatti bazaar, allowed only the residents of that particular street to enter into it after a thorough inspection. Even the media persons were denied entry.
Meanwhile, the revenue department decided to erect a fence around the statue as per the recommendations of the police. “We have decided to erect a fencing with a grill roof around the statue and it would be locked to prevent the entry of the people. It would be unlocked only during important days,” said Thanjavur Tahsildhar Venkateswaran.
He also ensured that the keys would be handed over to the residents of Thiruvalluvar Street who would keep them under their safe custody. The information about the fencing around the statue had created ripples among Tamil activists, who have planned to stage a protest as it appears that the revenue department had caged the Thiruvalluvar statue as that of the leaders of certain communities.
Diversionary tactic, says CPM leader
The recent incident of ‘saffronisation’ of Tamil saint-poet Thiruvalluvar was part of the tactics of the BJP to divert people’s attention from issues such as unemployment and economic slowdown, CPM politburo member G Ramakrishnan said on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters here, he said the BJP, which was given a second term to rule, was neglecting the problems of the general public, which have resulted in unemployment not seen in the last 50 years and economic and industrial slowdown. Unable to tackle the problems, the BJP has chosen to divert the attention of the country by raising unnecessary issues like Thiruvalluvar, he said.
The Left leader termed the act of the leader of Indhu Makkal Katchi, a fringe outfit, Arjun Sampath, draping the Thiruvalluvar statue near Thanjavur with a saffron shawl on Wednesday as cheap publicity. Ramakrishnan was here to attend the celebrations of the October Revolution being observed on this day.
Sampath also performed pooja to the statue and adorned it with a rudraksha ‘malai’ (garland).
Theni BJP performs milk abhishekam to Valluvar
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers on Thursday cleaned a stain mark on the statue of Saint-poet Thiruvalluvar and performed milk abhishekam at Periyakulam in the southern district of Theni.
The BJP cadre led by party functionary Raja Pandiyan, washed the statue and performed milk abhishekam. They then garlanded the statue and offered ‘aarthi’ to it. They also alleged that the statue was defiled by unknown miscreants.
However, when contacted, police sources denied it and said the statue was not desecrated. The sources said repeated garlanding of the statue had resulted in a mild stain mark on the neck. The cement statue was located near the Periyakulam Municipal office.
It may be recalled that a statue of Thiruvalluvar was defiled at Pillayarpatti village in Thanjavur district on Monday last by some unknown miscreants. The desecration was reported a day after the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit shared the image of Thiruvalluvar in saffron attire in a sitting posture with sacred ash on the forehead on Twitter to hail the release of the ‘Thai’ translation of Thirukkural, in Thailand by Prime Minister Narendra Modi a few days back.
Leaders of various political parties condemned the desecration and slammed the BJP for attempting to ‘saffronise’ Thiruvalluvar in a bid to grow the party in the state.On Wednesday, Indhu Makkal Katchi founder Arjun Sampath was arrested for draping a saffron shawl on Thiruvalluvar statue at Pillayarpatti.
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