Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday tweeted a picture of saint-poet Thiruvalluvar with saffron robes and deleted it later after drawing flak from the twitterati.
As soon as the image of the celebrated poet in saffron and Hindu religious symbols like holy ash was noticed, a section of users on the social networking service opposed it.
There were also others who endorsed the picture of the saint in saffron robes.
"@VPSecretariat, please use the official picture of #Thiruvalluvar from TN Govt. This is not right.
Please remove the saffronised picture you have posted depicting him in religion and caste. He is celebrated by all," said Dr Senthilkumar.S @DrSenthil_MDRD, Dharmapuri DMK MP.
Following such comments, the picture was replaced with an image usually used in Tamil Nadu and approved by the State government that depicts the poet in white robes, sans any religious symbols.
In a tweet, the vice president said, "The earlier tweet was posted by mistake by a staff of Vice President Secretariat and was deleted soon after it was noticed."
Many users, including Senthilkumar, thanked the vice president for replacing the image with one that is acceptable to all.
On Thiruvalluvar day that is observed today, Naidu in a series of tweets paid rich tributes to the poet.
"Remembering great Tamil Poet, philosopher and Saint, Thiruvalluvar on his Jayanti today.
Thirukkural, authored by him provides guidance to mankind on how to lead a noble life. Thiruvalluvar Tamil," the vice president tweeted.
Also, he said: "Considered as one of the greatest classics in Tamil Literature on morality, values and ethics, the treatise on a variety of subjects, including governance remains relevant for all times."
Recently, a controversy erupted in Tamil Nadu after the BJP state unit tweeted a picture of the poet in saffron robes and religious symbols.
Though several parties, including the DMK opposed it, the saffron party maintained that there was nothing wrong in it since "Thiruvalluvar was a Hindu saint.
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