As pro-Jallikattu protests intensified across Tamil Nadu and spread to the national Capital, Pondicherry and even Sri lanka, the UK and Australia on Thursday, the Centre suggested a way out to contain the volatile situation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is believed to have advised Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam to introduce a new law on Jallikattu in the State Assembly, telling him that the Centre could not bring another Ordinance in this regard when the first one was stayed by the Supreme Court. The State is likely to follow the advice.
After Modi’s meeting with Panneerselvam on Thursday morning, the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted, “While appreciating the cultural significance of Jallikattu, the Prime Minister observed that the matter is sub-judice. The Centre would be supportive of the steps taken by the State Government.”
Advising a way out on similar lines, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi clarified that the SC judgment on Jallikattu did not preclude the State Government from passing a law regulating the sport since ‘sport’ is a State subject under list III of the Constitution.
Sport is covered by Entry 33 of list II (State list). A-G Rohatgi said, “Sports fall within the domain of the State, it does not fall within the domain of the Centre. So if the State is desirous of allowing or promoting this sport, the State must bring out a law if it so chooses, and address all concerns of cruelty raised by the SC judgment of 2014. That is the only way out of the impasse.”
Talking to the media, Tamil Nadu CM said the State Government will soon take steps for holding Jallikattu event. “We will soon take steps with the backing of the Centre for the holding of the sport. You will soon see (the steps). All is well that ends well. Wait, good will happen,” he said, adding that he had requested the Prime Minister to issue an Ordinance to enable the sport to be conducted.
As protests demanding the lifting of the ban on the sport spread across TN, the CM rushed to New Delhi on Wednesday night to meet the PM with a request for an Ordinance. He was accompanied by Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan.
Modi was quoted by the Chief Minister as having told him, “I am aware of the feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu on the issue.”
Meanwhile, upping the ante on the issue, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss on Thursday staged a sit-in protest outside the PM’s residence in New Delhi, seeking promulgation of the legislation before January 26.
As the Jallikattu protests reached Delhi with scores of people, including students from TN demonstrating against the ban, the protesters, led by Tamil lawyers in SC took out a march from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar raising slogans against People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the ban on Jallikattu.
The SC, however, preferred to stay away from the pro-Jallikattu protests and said the issue of protecting the agitating supporters of the bull-taming sport can be raised before the Madras High Court.
Surprisingly, protests demanding lifting of the ban spread to beyond India with the Tamil diaspora in Sri lanka, Britain and Australia holding demonstrations.
Meanwhile, the Jallikattu moment in TN is set to bring the State to a standstill in the coming days as more and more sections of Tamil society have declared their intentions to strike work and express solidarity with the young agitators who are on a stand-off with the authorities demanding lifting of the SC ban on the sport.
The DMK, the principal Opposition party, declared on Thursday that it would disrupt train services “to draw the attention of the Central Government”.
Not to be left behind, the lefts and all fringe parties too declared that they would agitate on Friday to ensure that there is total shutdown in TN.
Former World Chess champion Viswanathan Anand, and Oscar award winning music director AR Rahman and actor Kamal Haasan to expressed their support for Jallikattu and described it as an inherent form of Tamil culture. Rahman would observe a day’s fast on Friday as a mark of solidarity with the youth who are on a peaceful protest while Anand expressed his support to the sport through Twitter. No untoward incidents have been reported from anywhere in TN over the issue other than road rokos and picketing.
Members of Occupy Marina Brigade, running into almost 30,000, made it clear on Thursday that they would not leave the beach till the ban on Jallikattu was lifted and the sport is staged in Tamil Nadu in the coming days itself. Schools and Colleges in Chennai will remain shut on Friday as the civic authorities are worried over the possibility of the weekend crowd making the beach inaccessible.
Shops all over TN would remain closed and lorries would stay off the roads on Friday as a show of solidarity with the agitating youth. More than 1.5 lakh milk vendors across the State too would down the shutters on Friday making life difficult for the common man. The general feeling is that TN would observe a total shut down on Friday.
Nobody is willing to answer the million dollar question of how to resolve the issue. legal experts themselves air different viewpoints. While Shyamala Thenamrita, a Madras High Court lawyer was of the view that Jallikattu could be staged if the Union Government issues a notification removing the bull from the list of performing animals, Subramanian Balaji, another MHC lawyer pointed out that as the SC has been seized up of the matter, the Centre is maintaining a decorum and dignity in the matter. “What will you do if the NGOs challenge the ordinance in the SC againIJ” he asked.
Though the identity of the leaders behind the agitation remained a mystery, sleuths in the intelligence wings have found out that various NGOs and evangelist organisations are behind the Occupy Marina agitation. “Both these groups are upset over the Centre for imposing restrictions and regulations over the funds they receive from abroad for anti-national activities. They want to embarrass the government on this issue by creating confusion and chaos,” said a senior official of the ministry of home affairs.