With just two days left for Pongal, the annual agricultural festival of Tamil Nadu, the demand for conducting Jallikattu, (rural sport of taming of bulls) has reached a feverish pitch across the State.
While the AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a passionate plea to issue an Ordinance to circumvent the Supreme Court verdict banning the traditional sport, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam declared that his Government has resolved to conduct Jallikattu and blamed the previous UPA Government for the court ban.
A group of AIADMK MPs led by lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Thambi Durai met the principal secretary to the Prime Minister and handed over a memorandum from Sasikala requesting the Centre to promulgate an Ordinance for the conduct of Jallikattu.
Panneerselvam, in a strongly worded statement released to the media as a rejoinder to MK Stalin — the working president of the DMK who had alleged last week that the AIADMK was responsible for the Supreme Court ban on Jallikattu — blamed the UPA Government in which the DMK was a key constituent for issuing a notification that included bulls under the performing animals category.
“This is the sole reason behind the Supreme Court verdict which banned Jallikattu,” said the Chief Minister.
Panneerselvam declared that his Government was committed to hold Jallikattu. “We will ensure that Jallikattu definitely happens and will never back-off from it. I would like to assure the people of Tamil Nadu that we will uphold the heritage and culture of the Tamils,” he said.
Training his guns against Stalin, Panneerselvam questioned his criticism of the AIADMK Government on the matter. “He has made a false allegation that the AIADMK Government was responsible for the ban on Jallikattu. People of Tamil Nadu know pretty well that the reason for the Supreme Court ban was due to the 2011 notification issued by the UPA government,” he said.
Sasikala, the General Secretary of the AIADMK, in her letter to the Prime Minister pointed out that the ban on Jallikattu has incensed the public of Tamil Nadu and pleaded to revoke the ban.
“This sporting event is inextricably linked to the rural, agrarian customs, practices and psyche of the Tamils and also helps in the conservation of native germplasm, since bulls with excellent physical attributes alone are reared for this sport. The bulls specially reared for the purpose are tamed by ardent youths and this sport is not in the least cruel to animals, unlike other sporting events involving horses, camels and other animals. No cruelty is practiced on the animals per se and they are worshiped as a deity by the religious in Tamil Nadu and care is always taken by the youth taming them, not to inflict any pain on them,” said Sasikala in her letter.
She requested that Centre should de-notify bulls as performing animals as there was widespread resentment against the ban on the sport. Sasikala pleaded with the Prime Minister to promulgate an ordinance to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act to de-notify the bulls from the notification of the Ministry of Environment and Forests so as to lift the ban on Jallikattu and preserve Tamil Nadu’s culture and tradition.
Meanwhile l Ganeshan, senior BJP leader and a close friend of Natarajan, Sasikala’s husband, has come out with a novel idea to circumvent the Supreme Court ban on Jallikattu. “We should rename the sports as Yeru Thazhuvuthal (embracing the bull). This is different from Jallikattu as what the youth are doing is to embrace the bull to stop it from speeding away,” said Ganeshan.