Pongal, the annual agricultural festival of Tamil Nadu, was celebrated sans any gaiety or fervour this year in the backdrop of severe draught and the failure of the AIADMK Government to get the Supreme Court ban on Jallikattu , the rural sport, lifted.
Determined in their efforts to conduct ‘Jallikattu’, people today mounted pressure on the Central and State Governments by launching agitations against the ban on the bull taming sport, leading to detention of 149 protesters.
The day of festivities turned ugly at Avaniyapuram village in Madurai district with police resorting to mild lathi charge as the crowd which had gathered to conduct Jallikattu became restive and uncontrollable. The arrival of film personalities like V Gowthaman, Ameer and Yuvan Shankar Raja to express solidarity with the people clamouring for Jallikattu gave some tense moments as the crowd surged forward. The presence of film actor Arya annoyed the local crowd since he had made some anti-Jallikattu comments in the social media. They demanded Arya to withdrw from the scence and became restive prompting the police to resort to a mild lathi charge. The police had to detail some of the people till late evening. No casualties have been reported.
Authorities had deployed heavy police posse in Avaniapuram, Alanganallur and Palamedu in Madurai district since last night. These villages are known hubs where Jallikattu are held defying the Supreme Court ban. The bull sport was held in many villages neighbouring Alanganallur and Avaniapuram in the morning itself. But no arrest has been recorded by the police from any of these places. “The police and organisers were in a kind of hide and seek game. The guardians of law will not be able to reach all the places at the same time,” said Balakrishnan from Palamedu.
At Avaniyapuram, police took into preventive custody early Saturday itself nearly 20 persons who are associated with the sport.
Southern Tamil Nadu saw a subdued Pongal following crop failure, death of nearly 125 farmers in the last two months due to withering of crops and the unexpected demise of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who is held in high veneration in the region.