Police have arrested 40 Naam Tamizhar Katchi workers, when they attempted to block the Tiruchi-Manamadurai passenger train, demanding lifting of the ban on ‘jallikattu’ in the State.
Led by district secretary P. Vengai and Ramanathapuram Joint secretary K.Muruganandam, they took two bulls along with them and stood on the railway track.
They raised slogans against the ban, when police arrested them.
Sport of valour‘Jallikattu’ (bull-fighting or taming of bulls) was a sport of valour organised in villages across the State. The ban on the sport amounted to destroying the Tamil culture and tradition, Mr. Muruganandam said.
He said the Animal Welfare Board of India, which had moved the Supreme Court and obtained the ban alleging that the bulls were tortured, turned a blind eye to the elephant festival organised in Kerala.
This was nothing but a systematic campaign launched by vested interests to destroy the Tamil culture, he alleged.
While Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Minister Maneka Gandhi was opposed to jallikattu, her party colleague Dr. Subramanian Swamy has tweeted recently that he would help to lift the ban on Jallikattu, Mr. Muruganandam said.
This has exposed the double-speak of the BJP-led government at the Centre, he said.
The Centre should move the Supreme Court and ensure that the ban is lifted before the ensuing Pongal festival, he urged.
The party, led by its founder-leader Seeman, would organise a Statewide agitation if the ban was not lifted before Pongal, he warned.
Police said that those arrested were accommodated in a marriage hall and likely to be released in the evening.
