Rajinikanth refuses to apologise for remarks on 'Periyar'

After some outfits blamed him for spreading 'false' information about a 1971 rally of social reformer E V Ramasamy 'Periyar', superstar Rajinikanth refused to apologise for his claims.

Chennai:Superstar Rajinikanth on Tuesday refused to apologise for his remarks on social reformer E V Ramasamy 'Periyar', which had kicked up a storm in Tamil Nadu.

Showing clippings from magazines and newspapers, the top actor said the idols of Lord Ram and Sita were taken out undressed and the deities also featured a garland of sandals in a rally led by late Periyar E V Ramasamy in 1971.

"A controversy has emerged that I said something that did not happen. But I did not say anything that did not occur. I only said what I heard and things that appeared in magazines. Sorry, I will not express regret or apologise," he told reporters outside his Poes Garden residence.

Further, he said, "I did not say anything out of imagination or something that was not there. Lakshmanan (then Jan Sangh and now BJP leader) who took part in a dharna (in 1971) has corroborated it," he said.

On the 1971 rally - in which Hindu deities were allegedly taken out naked - the actor said such things that happened in the past should not be raked up again and again.

"It was not a thing that can be (easily) forgotten but a thing that must be forgotten," he quipped.

Read: 5 members of fringe outfit held for burning Rajinikanth's effigy