An iconic statue of Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin was pulled down in Tripura last March after the BJP breached the Left bastion in the north-eastern state. That moment, the Tamil Nadu’s CPM unit thought it should give a befitting reply to the BJP by installing a statue of the legend in the state.

Ten months later, Lenin stands tall in Tirunelveli in the southern part of the state. The 12-feet statue outside the CPM’s district office was inaugurated by party general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday evening on the occasion of icon’s 95th birth anniversary.

The pulling down of Lenin’s statue in Tripura had its resonance in Tamil Nadu with BJP’s H Raja, known to have a penchant for stoking controversies, hailing the move and wanting to raze the statues of Dravidian icon E V R Periyar in the state.

The statement stoked a huge row in the country and the issue died down only after no less than BJP President Amit Shah ticked off Raja and said the party does not subscribe to his views. BJP views Dravidian politics and parties as its enemy and continues to target them, but forgets it conveniently during elections.

The party has not won a seat without an alliance with either of the Dravidian parties – except in 2014 when Pon Radhakrishnan romped home in 2014 Lok Sabha polls which the BJP fought along with PMK, DMDK and other smaller parties.