Hip Hop Tamizha Adhi backs out of jallikattu protest

Adhi, who has composed a Tamil track in support of jallikattu, claimed that the movement was ‘losing steam and veering off its desired path’. He claimed that during the protests at Coimbatore, he had come across an incident involving an ‘insult’ to the national flag even as some tried to give a communal colour to it. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the target of ‘abusive’ language by a section of the protesters, Adhi, a prominent name among the pro-jallikattu protesters, alleged. 

“I will not aid such anti-India activities,” the composer of the ‘Takaru Takaru’ song said in a video message, adding that some protesters even raised separate Tamil Nadu slogans. Adhi said he was ‘hurt’ by such incidents and insisted that a good initiative was ‘losing direction’. 

“The problems of Tamils should be addressed, but at the cost of what?” he asked and added that giving a completely different colour to the protest was ‘not acceptable’ to him. 

“I do not know what happened but I am backing off,” he said. Adhi said he himself was the owner of a bull and had been affected by the ban on jallikattu, adding that he continued to support the bull-taming sport. His comments come at a time when some on the social media have started questioning the rationale behind the protesters’ insistence on continuing with their agitation despite Chief Minister O Panneerselvam’s assurance that his government’s ordinance for conducting the sport will pave the way for a permanent solution. 

Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju has also said that the apprehensions of sections of protesters seeking a ‘permanent solution’ were unfounded as the ordinance will be replaced by an Act of the Tamil Nadu legislature which will be ‘permanent’.