General Secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam VK Sasikala on Wednesday vowed that the Tamil Nadu government will move and adopt a resolution in the ensuing Assembly session to have the ban on jallikattu revoked. Her statement comes amid statewide protests demanding that the bull-taming sport be allowed, PTI reported.
Sasikala had earlier urged the Centre to promulgate an ordinance allowing jallikattu to be organised in the state on the occasion of Pongal. The five-day harvest festival began on January 14 this year. “AIADMK and the Tamil Nadu government has fought tirelessly to end the ban on jallikattu. We will also adopt all legal measures to ban PETA,” she had said. The animal rights group, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, had filed a number of petitions against the practice.
As the protests in Tamil Nadu, especially at Chennai’s Marina Beach, intensify, Chief Minister O Panneerselvam is en route to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday to push for the ordinance. Panneerselvam had earlier urged protestors to call off their agitation against the Supreme Court ban on jallikattu. “I met student representatives sometime back and listened to their demands. They are satisfied with my explanation,” he said, according to AIADMK.
Jallikattu is traditionally organised as part of the harvest festival. The Supreme Court has been hearing petitions on the sporting event since it was banned in 2014.
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