Vice President of India, Venkaiah Naidu greeted the nation on the birth anniversary of Tamil poet, philosopher and saint, Thiruvalluvar. While tweeting, the office of VP had tweeted an image of the poet wearing saffron robes.

However, soon after he tweeted, the ‘secular’ brigade outraged that using Thiruvalluvar’s picture wearing saffron robes is ‘appropriating’ him and alleged that this disrespected him.

For a State party unit to use this portrait of Thiruvallur is one thing. I supported BJP’s right to use this picture. But shouldn’t a person holding a Constitutional post use the Govt approved picture? #thiruvalluvar https://t.co/DuuoRDuh7h — Sumanth Raman (@sumanthraman) January 16, 2020

As per Congress-friendly journalist Sumanth Raman, the Vice President of India should have used a ‘state approved’ photograph of Saint Thiruvalluvar.

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DMK leader Dr Senthilkumar S also objected to the 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. pic.twitter.com/JIQyDh6vkS — Dr.Senthilkumar.S (@DrSenthil_MDRD) January 16, 2020

He alleged that the saffron robe worn by saint Thiruvalluvar in the picture depicted religion and caste.

Saint Thiruvalluvar

For the record, there is no official record on what kind of clothes Saint Thiruvalluvar wore or any details about his life and portraits of him are also artistic imagery of the poet-saint. In fact, as per reports, there is inadequate information even on his name as well as his poetic work. However, it is generally believed that he lived sometime between 4th and 6th century BC.

However, after the ‘secular’ outrage, Vice President of India deleted his original tweet and posted a new tweet to greet the nation on the poet-saint’s birth anniversary.

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. #Thiruvalluvar — Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) January 16, 2020

This time, the image he shared had Saint Thiruvalluvar wearing white robes.