Amidst the political furor that was ignited by Actor Rajinikanth over his controversial remarks against Periyar, the statue of the social reformer and leader of Dravidian ideology was reportedly vandalized by the miscreants in Salavakkam near Chengalpattu on early morning hours of Friday.

The reports say that the right hand of the statue was broken while the head region had some cracks and the police department had stated that the cops were informed about the incident by the local resident around 6.15 am following which the police team had visited the spot and covered the broken parts of the statue.

Soon after the alleged vandalism came to light, the large number of people had assembled in the spot and the reports have stated that the police personnel have been probing the incident and they are yet to identify and detain the suspects who destroyed the statue of the public figure of the state who has been called as the father of the Dravidian Movement.

The incident has been reported at the crucial time when the state has been playing the politics with Periyar after Actor and political hopeful Rajinikanth had, while addressing the event of  50th anniversary of Thuglak Magazine that was organized on January 14th, 2020, said that Periyar had led the rally in Salem in 1971 during which his rally carried the undressed images of Lord Sri Ramachandramoorthy and Sita with the garland of sandal.

His remarks had spurred the anger from the Dravidian parties and outfits which, by citing that no such incident occurred in 1971, had demanded the superstar to issue an apology and some of the outfits had threatened to siege his residence in Chennai if he fails to apologize. However, while addressing the reporters from his residence earlier this week, Rajinikanth had said that he won't issue an apology and claimed that he didn't say anything out of imagination.

Previously, Periyar's statues had come through similar vandalisms in April 2019 in Aranthangi, Tamil Nadu and in March 2018 where the statue was broken in Vellore after BJP's H Raja had called that the statues of the father of Dravidian Movement must be destroyed.

Also read: No Apology! Rajini vs Periyarists...the stir goes to the next level!