Jallikattu stir drowns Tamil Nadu, CM to meet PM today

Protestors gathered at Marina beach yesterday. Pics/PTI

Chennai: Thousands of students yesterday gathered on the sands of Marina beach here as protests demanding lifting of the ban on bull-taming sport ‘jallikattu' snowballed across Tamil Nadu.

They also sought a ban on PeTA

Faced with mounting anger on the streets, the top brass of the state government got into a huddle as Chief Minister O Panneerselvam decided to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi today seeking an ordinance for conduct of the age-old sport. Over 3,000 people are protesting at Marina beach, NDTV reported.

Protests at Tamukkam near Madurai and (below) at Coimbatore

He appealed to the students to give up their protests even as IT sector employees and several more actors joined the chorus for allowing ‘jallikattu'.

"Tomorrow morning I will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urge him to promulgate an ordinance to conduct jallikattu. Hence, I appeal to all protesters to give up their agitations," the Chief Minister said.

To conduct ‘jallikattu', the Supreme Court should give a favourable verdict, he said. If the sport was to be held before such a verdict was given, "only the central government has the powers to bring in an amendment to facilitate that," he said.

Thousands protest
The epicentre of protests appeared to have shifted to the state capital with thousands of students and youths collecting on Marina beach demanding an end to the ban on the age-old sport, saying it symbolised Tamil culture and the ban reflected an anti-Tamil mindset.

Symbolic 'jallikattu' events, where bulls were let loose, were reported from Madurai, Sivaganga and Pattukottai. Crowds, meanwhile, continued to swell at Alanganallur and Tamukkam grounds in Madurai, the traditional base for the sport.

Protestors demanded that animal rights organisation PeTA, which had moved the Supreme Court against holding the sport, be wound up.