Thuglak reprints articles about Periyar’s 1971 rally

In its issue that was released on Tuesday, three articles that appeared in 1971 were reprinted by the magazine. The first article titled ‘Kadamai, Kanniyam, Kattupadu’ first appeared on February 15, 1971 edition and other two articles titled ‘Thuglak Parimudhal’ and ‘Calendar Koorum Kadhai’ appeared on March 1, 1971, edition.

“As demanded by the readers, we have reprinted in this week’s Thuglak the relevant pages in the issues dated February 15 and March 1, 1971, on the infamous Salem anti Hindu procession,” said S Gurumurthy, Editor of the magazine, in a tweet.

The controversy surrounding the 1971 DK procession commenced when actor Rajinikanth recalled the incident at the Golden Jubilee function of Thuglak magazine held recently where he said that the idols of Lord Ram and his wife Sita were paraded naked by DK members and the then DMK government, in 1971, permitted the anti-Hindu procession. He also said that the idols of Lord Ram and Sita were beaten with slippers.

The comments of Rajinikanth created a huge controversy in the state as all the opposition parties and even the Ministers condemned the actor for his comments against Periyar and DK. However, the right wingers continued their support to the actor stating that there was nothing wrong in the statement of Rajinikanth.

After the controversy erupted, Gurumurthy said that he is planning to reprint the articles related to 1971 DK procession in the upcoming edition and as announced, three articles related to the procession were printed in Tuesday’s edition.

The first article ‘Kadamai, Kanniyam, Kattupadu’ contains six photos of the banners used in the procession where obscene photos of Lord Shiva and Vishnu were carried, but however, the fourth picture shows that Lord Ram and Sita were not paraded naked. Only a part of Rajinikanth’s statement that idols of Lord Ram and Sita were beaten with slippers was true as the article says that idol of Lord Ram and Sita were insulted by DK members by beating them with slippers.