Chennai: The Bharatiya Janata Party has set off a controversy after its Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai said that the party’s first job when they win in the state would be to remove the statues of E V Ramasamy, father of the Dravidian movement revered as ‘Periyar’, from outside temples.

The ruling DMK and the opposition AIADMK who exited the BJP alliance in September reacted sharply against Annamalai.

“As soon as the BJP comes to power in Tamil Nadu, the first signature would be to remove the statues of the person (Periyar), who said there is no God and those who worship God are fools, that are erected in front of temples across the state,” Annamalai said.

Speaking at a rally in Srirangam in Trichy district on Tuesday evening, he added that they would replace the statues with that of saint Thiruvalluvar and other freedom fighters from the state. The rally was held at a venue between Sri Ranganathaswamy temple and the Periyar statue.

Annamalai was referring to the flag of Dravidar Kazhagam (DK, ideological parent of the DMK and AIADMK) in front of the temple which he said was hoisted along with the statue in 1967. “The second BJP comes to power, we will remove all these flag posts, notice boards, and statues in front of all the temples,” Annamalai said.

He also spoke of abolishing Tamil Nadu’s department of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) which administers close to 50,000 temples in the state. “The first day of the BJP government will be the last day of the HR&CE department in the state” Annamalai said.

DMK and AIADMK leaders criticised Annamalai for his comments. “The sun which rises in the East may even rise in the West but the BJP can never come to power in Tamil Nadu,” said HR & CE minister Sekar Babu on Wednesday. “The people of Tamil Nadu will never give an opportunity to govern for a person like Annamalai…Because the DMK is welcoming to those who follow Hinduism and atheism, they (BJP) are unable to do anything.”

The AIADMK which quit its four-year alliance with the BJP in September had solely blamed Annamalai for the split and on Wednesday reiterated that criticised Dravidian icons will only backfire on the BJP. “Tamil Nadu will never accept this,” said AIADMK’s former minister D Jayakumar. “It is only courteous to show respect to late leaders. The remarks are cringe worthy.”