Chennai : BJP leader H Raja today blamed staff managing his Facebook account for the controversial post on rationalist leader Periyar and expressed regret for the remarks even as the controversy refused to die down with parties and pro-Tamil outfits holding protests against him.
The state government has warned of action against those "disrupting public peace . In a Facebook post that was later deleted on Tuesday, Raja had said: "Who is Lenin and what is the connection between Lenin and India? What connection India has with Communists? Today Lenin's statue removed in Tripura, tomorrow it will be the statue of EV Ramasamy in Tamil Nadu".
With the remarks stirring a controversy in Tamil Nadu, Raja initially took to Facebook today to issue a clarification and express regret for his comments. In his online post, he said his "Facebook admin" had put up a post comparing the razing down of Lenin statue in Tripura to that of Ramaswamy. "Views should be confronted by views only and not by violence. I have no intentions of hurting anybody. Therefore, if anybody felt hurt by that post, I express my heartfelt regret," he said.
"It is not acceptable to us to damage any statue of Periyar," he further said. Later, speaking to reporters in Delhi, he claimed that his Facebook admin had put up such a post while he was travelling to the national capital for a party event. "I later removed the post and have also removed the admin," he said and once again expressed regret. However, the move failed to cut any ice with political parties and pro-Tamil outfits in Tamil Nadu. PTI
