Chennai, Jan 20 (IANS): The ruling DMK and the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) staged a protest in Villupuram town after a life-sized statue of social reformer and father of the Dravidian movement of Tamil Nadu Periyar E.V. Ramasamy was damaged when a lorry rammed into it early on Thursday.

According to police, the lorry driver Mahendra Sable (28) from Pune was arrested and it was a case of accident.

Villupuram police said that the lorry was carrying tyres from a factory in Nettapakam in Puducherry to Pune. When the driver was reversing the vehicle, it hit the 40-year-old statue at the intersection of Kamarajsalai damaging it.

DMK local leaders and cadres staged a march towards the police station demanding stringent action against the driver.

The workers of the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK)also were agitated over the incident. A K. Rajadas, a local DK leader, told IANS: "We don't think that these are freak accidents. For the past few weeks, the statues of Thanthai Periyar across Tamil Nadu are being damaged or desecrated and we feel that there is a concerted effort behind this to discredit him and his ideology which is directed against the upper class and for the downtrodden.

"We want a thorough investigation into the case to unearth whether any planning was done and if so who was behind this. We don't believe the police version and let a proper investigation be conducted and then let us see."

In a related development, Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) workers conducted a protest march towards the Villupuram police station. M . Ramakrishnan, president of TPDK while speaking to IANS said: "There are some ulterior motives behind the continues attacks on the statutes of Thanthai Periyar and it is a shame that these incidents are happening while a political party like DMK is in power in Tamil Nadu. Police have to act strongly and conduct an investigation without any bias and preconceptions."