Commotion prevailed at the University auditorium when the students shouted slogans against the former Rajya Sabha MP who had arrived to deliver a talk on Tamil culture.
However, the students were whisked away from the venue by the police.
Around 20 students were taken into custody and released later, Superintendent of Police S Venkatasamy said.
Sources said the BJP leader was there to participate for an event on birth anniversary celebrations of Dr B R Ambedkar.
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Later, he told reporters that steps would be taken to digitise the documents and letters of nationalist poet Subramania Bharati.
The BJP leader had on April 7 kicked up a row after he appeared to suggest during a panel discussion on a news channel that Indians cannot be called racist as they live with those from south India who are "black".
The BJP leader's controversial comments had sparked an outrage.