Saffron cloth found tied to Tamil icons' busts

A saffron cloth was found tied to busts of Tamil Nadu's iconic leaders on Thursday, days after several incidents of vandalism of statues took place in the country.

The cloth was tied to the busts of former Tamil Nadu chief minister C.N. Annadurai, MG Ramachandran and Dravidar Kazhagam founder Thanthai Periyar in Namakkal, police said.

According to the police, an investigation has been initiated into the matter.

Recently, following the pulling down of Vladimir Lenin's statue in Tripura, a number of incidents like these have come to the fore.

Social activist and politician E.V. Ramasamy Periyar's statue was defaced by some miscreants in Vellore district on March 7 after Bharatiya Janata Party leader H. Raja, in a Facebook post, said: "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".

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned such acts, the Home Ministry in a statement had asked all states to take strict measures against those found guilty of such crimes.