Don't criticise Ilaiyaraaja's personal opinion: Vijayakant

Chennai: Actor-Politician Vijayakant came in support of Music maestro Ilaiyaraaja who has been making headlines for the past few days. Ilaiyaraaja's statement in a foreword for a book drew parallels between BR Ambedkar and Modi who witnessed poverty and worked to dismantle them.

Vijayakant tweeted with a letterhead, "It is a great honor to accept Ilaiyaraaja's opinion with the lofty aim of personal opinion & freedom of expression and not to criticise and hurt his sentiments." (sic)

His letter read, "BR Ambedkar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and musician Ilaiyaraaja were born in an ordinary family and today they are role models for everyone in the industry. One sun, one moon and that goes same for anyone here. They cannot be compared to anyone, they are equal for them only."

He also added that the statement from the musician should be a taken as a personal opinion in the aspect of freedom of speech and shouldn't be futher criticised and not hurt his sentiments.

The statement made by Ilaiyaraaja has already evoked huge controversy around him and recently, his son-composer Yuvan Shankar Raja even posted a picture of himself contradicting his father's statement and captioned the post, 'Dark Dravidian - Proud Tamizhan'.

In addition to that, it also created choas to the political arena with the BJP coming out in full support to the renowned musician. Supporters of left parties and pro-Tamil and Dalit outfits are among those who have opposed his comments.

The statement was made by him on the BR' Ambedkar's birth anniversary in a foreword written for a book titled ‘Ambedkar & Modi: Reformer’s Ideas, Performer’s Implementation’ which was recently published by Bluekraft Digital Foundation.