Rajinikanth on Tuesday said that he will not apologise for the comments he made on Periyar during the 50th-anniversary event of Tamil magazine ”Thuglak” on January 14.
The actor said: “In 1971, at Salem, Periyar took out a rally against superstition in which naked images of Lord Ramachandramoorthy and Sita – with a sandalwood garland – were displayed and no news outlet published it.”
However, Cho Ramaswamy who founded Thulak was brave enough to publish it. This rattled then Chief Minister M Karunanithi who seized the copies but Cho did not give in and reprinted them, sold like “hot cakes”, he added.
Following his comments, two complaints have been filed by the Dravidar Kazhagam founded by Periyar, citing charges of promoting enmity and inciting hate.
Replying to this, Rajinikanth said: “I will not apologise for the comments on Periyar. I spoke based on news reports I read. They speak on the basis of what they saw. This is an incident to be forgotten, not to be denied.”
