Opposition parties have flayed the Centre and State governments for the continuing stalemate on jallikattu and charged them of not doing enough for the conduct of the event this Pongal.
DMK working president and Leader of the Opposition M.K. Stalin announced a State-wide agitation condemning the Centre and State governments for failing the Tamils. The demonstrations will be held at the district headquarters.
Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam had guaranteed the conduct of the sport and Union Minister Pon. Radhakrishnan had been repeatedly saying there was no obstacle for jallikattu. Now that the Supreme Court has turned down the plea to revisit the ban on jallikattu, Mr. Stalin asked what explanations these two leaders would offer the people. Both the Centre and State governments did not take the issue seriously, he charged.
Extending support to the students’ protest across the State, he warned that the State government would have to face a massive revolt in the coming days if it failed to conduct the traditional sporting event.
‘Centre not serious’
TNCC president Su. Thirunavukkarasar asked why the Centre had not taken any effort to lift the Supreme Court ban in the past 32 months. If the BJP-led government wanted, it could have brought an amendment in the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Or it could have brought in an ordinance. “The BJP owes an explanation to the people,” he said. Criticising the ruling AIADMK for failing people despite having 50 MPs in Parliament, he said the last-minute efforts were to hoodwink people. The Congress extended its support to the DMK’s protests, he added.
PMK founder S. Ramadoss asked the Centre to promulgate an ordinance immediately. There have been precedents, and therefore, there should not be any delay, he said. Otherwise, jallikattu will be organised despite the ban across the State with the full support of people and no one would be able to stop the event from happening, he said.
TMC president G.K. Vasan urged the Centre to promulgate an ordinance for the sport. If the Centre and State failed, then they would lose the support of the people, he said. Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India observed a day-long fast in Chennai on Thursday for the conduct of jallikattu.
