: Hailing the youths’ ongoing agitation for jallikattu, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko has said that the protest, like the anti-Hindi agitation, would script resounding victory.
Speaking to reporters at Sankarankovil on Thursday, Mr. Vaiko said the ‘students’ revolution’ that ensured the resounding victory in the anti-Hindi agitation in 1965 had resurfaced in Tamil Nadu for resurrecting jallikattu, a 2,000-year-old traditional sport of Tamils. Armed with social media, several lakh students, like Egypt’s ‘Jasmine Revolution,’ were organising a peaceful agitation across the State for the retrieval of their tradition and culture.
The State Government should not resort to such repressive measures now as the massive non-violent movement for a noble cause would script a mammoth victory in the near future.
Blaming the Congress and its erstwhile ally in the then United Progressive Alliance Government, DMK for the present fiasco, Mr. Vaiko said the bull was included in the list of ‘performing animals’ during the UPA regime.
“Terming the Tamil’s jallikattu as a ‘barbaric sport,’ the then Minister for Environment and Forest, Jairam Ramesh, included the bulls in the ‘list of performing animals.’ The Congress and the DMK are the real culprits,” Mr. Vaiko charged.
He also came down heavily on People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), saying that those who could not understand the rich tradition and culture of Tamils could not understand jallikattu.
