DINDIGUL: A majority of the students staging the protest in support of jalliakattu vociferously protested the presence of politicians and actors who tried to get publicity through their struggle in Dindigul and Chinnalapatti here on Thursday.
Dindigul MLA K. Balabarathi and actor Vijay Sethupathi were shown the doors. However, they were allowed to take part and raise slogans in support of jallikattu in both places.
When actor Vijay Sethupathi went to Gandhigram to address the students staging a protest at the entrance of Gandhigram Rural Institute, a section of the students curtly told him that actors seeking publicity need not extend their support and take part in agitation.
The students told that the actor who was in a film shooting in the district on Wednesday, expressed his inability to meet the protesters as he had a tight schedule. However, the film team assured to bring him on Thursday.
But he did not turn up in the morning. He finished his schedule and met the students during lunch hour, they added.
Mr. Vijay Sethupathi should have come earlier to extend his support to the protesters if he was really interested in the students’ struggle, they said.
The actor cut short his speech in five minutes, appealing to the students to continue their still till the ban on jallikattu was removed. The government believed that the students would be tired and abandon their agitation on their own. That should not happen. Their agitation should expand further, he stressed.
Former Dindigul MLA K. Balabarathi too faced similar fate in Dindigul as a majority of the students did not allow her to speak.
With beating of percussion instruments, Ms. Balabarathi came to the demonstration venue on Tiruchi Road junction along with DYFI cadre. The students greeted them at the venue and allowed them to raise slogans.
The percussion instrumentalists too were allowed to play. When she grabbed a mike to deliver a speech, the students raised slogans and did not allow her to speak. She was asked to leave the place. Finally, she left the place along with supporters.
