India
The BJP office in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore was attacked with petrol bombs on Tuesday night. This incident could be a retaliation to the vandalisation of a Periyar statue in Vellore.
Updated : Mar 07, 2018, 09:23 AM IST
The BJP office in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore was attacked with petrol bombs on Tuesday night. This incident could be a retaliation to the vandalisation of a Periyar statue in Vellore.
Police said no one has been injured in the Coimbatore incident. CCTV footage shows some men hurling petrol bombs at the BJP office.
#WATCH Coimbatore: A petrol bomb was hurled at BJP office earlier today #TamilNadu pic.twitter.com/hl3WRO0aB7
— ANI (@ANI) March 7, 2018
The attack happens hours after a statue of social reformer and rationalist leader Periyar was vandalised in the state’s Vellore district.
The statue of Periyar, located inside the Tirupattur corporation office, was targeted around 9 p.m. The glasses and nose of the statue were damaged.
Two people have been arrested in this regard. One of them was identified as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker, the other person as a Communist Party of India (CPI) worker.
Earlier, the statue of communist icon Vladimir Lenin was razed after the BJP swept the Left front government out of power in the Tripura assembly elections.
BJP leader H. Raja responded to the outrage with a Facebook post, which was later deleted. He wrote, “Who is Lenin and what is the connection between Lenin and India? What connection has India with Communists? Lenin's statue has been removed in Tripura. Today it is Lenin's statue in Tripura, tomorrow it will be the statue of caste fanatic EVR Ramasamy?”
Communists are known for spreading rumours and false propaganda https://t.co/bxuYNqt8A6
— H Raja (@HRajaBJP) March 6, 2018
Reacting to Raja’s post, many political parties including Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), MDMK and the Left lashed out at Raja seeking his detention under the 'Goondas Act'.
DMK working president M K Stalin was the first to react. He said “No one can dare to touch EVR’s statue.”
In the meantime, a Periyar Statue in Coimbatore's is being guarded by Police personnel after the Vallore incident.