The Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP on Sunday came under attack from the Opposition for “saffronising” Tamil poet-savant Thiruvalluvar.
The BJP State unit, while hailing the release of the Thai translation of Tirukkuṛaḷ (penned by Thiruvalluvar) in Bangkok on Saturday, had tweeted a portrait of the poet depicting him wearing saffron robes, as opposed to white robes.
On Sunday, DMK president M.K. Stalin urged the BJP to desist from painting Thiruvalluvar saffron. He said the party should read Thiruvalluvar’s works and change its attitude.
“Your true colours will be exposed. He said everyone is equal by birth and you have betrayed the Tamils by painting the savant in saffron,” Mr. Stalin tweeted.
CPI(M) State secretary K. Balakrishnan said, “Thiruvalluvar is celebrated across the globe, irrespective of caste, creed, religion or language. No one has in the past depicted him as a part of a political movement.”
In a statement, he said the people of Tamil Nadu will not accept this, and the national party should stop engaging in such activities.
While several BJP leaders, including the party’s national secretary H. Raja, defended the saffron robes and continued to tweet the same image, the party’s State unit, through its Twitter handle, challenged Mr. Stalin to recite a specific Tirukkural couplet twice without any flaws.
“If you do so, we will delete our tweet (showing Thiruvalluvar in saffron robes),” the tweet read.
