Chennai, Jan 18 (BPNS)

Tamil actor turned politician and President of Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), Seeman has come out strongly against the Union government rejecting the Tableaus presented by Tamil Nadu for the Republic Day parade in New Delhi.

The NTK leader said that the BJP which has no history of participation in the freedom movement was trying to undermine the role played by nationalists Tamils in the Indian independence movement.

Seeman said that the freedom fighters depicted in the tableaus presented by the Tamil Nadu government included V.O . Chidambaranar, Mahakavi Subramania Bharathi, Maruthar brothers who were executed by the English East India Company, Rani Velu Nachiyar, the first Indian queen who fought against the East India company.

In a statement on Monday, the NTK leader said that all the freedom fighters from Tamil Nadu who were included in the tableaus by the Tamil Nadu government to be presented at the Republic Day parade suffered immense torture at the hands of the British.

He said that if these freedom fighters were rejected on the basis of lack of national acceptance, no one can be featured in the parade tableaus except Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

The NTK leader while speaking to IANS said, “The decision of the central government is highly deplorable and this has inflicted pain on the people of Tamil Nadu. The government should understand that these leaders had sacrificed their lives for the freedom of the country and that they had suffered immensely at the hands of the British. Even the home nation not recognizing them cannot be accepted.”

Seeman also flayed the Government of India in not including Subash Chandra Bose in the West Bengal tableaus and Sree Narayana Guru from the Kerala tableaus.