Chennai, Jun 1 (IANS): Ramkumar Ganesan, son of late South Indian matinee idol Sivaji Ganesan, has come out strongly against the Communist Party of India (CPI) over the remarks made by its state secretary Muthuresan against the late actor.

Ramkumar, who is also a member of the BJP, was responding to the statement of the CPI leader that had Sivaji been alive, he would have returned all his awards as Prime Minister Narendra Modi "acted better".

Sivaji's son said that CPI leaders had benefitted from the largesse of the late actor as he was friends with some of them and had supported them in their time of need. He said that had his father been alive, he would never have returned the awards as he would have been a friend of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.

He said that praising the late actor was fine but it should not be for vilifying and slandering others. Ramkumar Ganesan also said that the CPI leaders were ignorant of the new developments in the world as well as of the Indian economy and that was the reason for such slandering and vilifying campaigns.

Notably, the late Sivaji Ganesan was one of the most popular actors in South Indian movies and had portrayed several major roles in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam movies. His dialogue delivery in many movies was adored by the cine-goers.