All eyes on O Paneerselvam-Modi meet on January 19

Amid intensifying protests across Tamil Nadu for jallikattu, Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said he would call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking an immediate promulgation of an ordinance to allow the sport and appealed to protesters to end agitations.

“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. He assured the agitators that the Tamil Nadu government would continue to make all efforts to conduct jallikattu. His assurance came after thousands of youths converged on Marina Beach here demanding a personal assurance from him that the sport would be held. Panneerselvam said the Tamil Nadu government ‘is on the same page’ with the people of the state on the issue. “The democratic protests by students and people to uphold our rights and guard our culture are expressive of our feelings (on jallikattu),” he said. However, 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 an amendment to facilitate that,” he said.

As the jallikattu protests entered into the second day, thousands of people, both young and old, arrived at the Marina Beach on Wednesday demanding the resumption of jallikattu and to ban PETA.

Angry protesters demanded Chief Minister O Panneerselvam to meet with them to discuss their demands. The vast majority of the protesters were college students. The protests even spread to other parts of the city including at OMR, Avadi and on Poonamallee High Road “The students kept pouring in from several colleges. 

The protests went on peacefully. We had enough police personnel on duty to avert any untoward incident,” said a senior police officer. Most student groups left their colleges in large droves shouting slogans in support of jallikattu on trains and buses towards the Marina. The mass mobilisation was made possible with the help of social networking sites. The call for protest was sent out using Facebook and WhatsApp. The protester claimed that it was a youth movement and did not have leaders and organisers to lead the charge. 

Many students played drums to traditional songs, while others creating posters condemning the ban on jallikattu. Another group desecrated posters of Subramanian Swamy. Some students rode on top of an empty MTC bus and shouted pro-jallikattu slogans.  A few students tried to throw water packets on passing vehicles but were quickly stopped by the police. 

A student of Patrician College, Naresh Babu said, “We want to conduct jallikattu this year. It doesn’t matter if Pongal is over.” Another agitator Kalaiselvan said, “This is the power of students. We had kept quiet when the Chief Minister died under mysterious condition, we did not react when the city struggled with demonetisation. But jallikattu is our tradition and identity. We will continue the fight till our demands are met.” 

Unknown persons flung a slipper at a policeman leading to a mild Lathi charge at Marina Beach. The issue was soon resolved with police appealing to the students to carry out a peaceful protests.

While promising legal steps to prevent PETA for acting against the interests of Tamil culture, AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala on Wednesday urged the Centre to bring in amendments in both Houses of Parliament to lift the ban on jallikattu by respecting the outpouring tamil sentiments. In a statement here, she said PETA, which was formed in a foreign country, has been acting against the interests of Tamil culture. “All legal steps will be taken to totally prevent its acts that went against the interests of Tamils,’’ she added. Stating that laws were for the people and not vice-versa, she pointed out that considering this, the Parliament has brought in number of amendments over the years. Sasikala said in line with this, the Centre should bring in necessary amendments in both the Houses of Parliament to remove the ban on jallikattu.

Following the continuing protests against the ban on jallikattu, atleast 31 government and government-aided colleges in and around Chennai are expected to remain closed on January 19.

As the government had not officially announced a holiday at the time of going to print, heads of educational institutes advised students to check with their respective colleges regarding attendance on Thursday. However, the University of Madras will continue to function as usual. Meanwhile, in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) on Wednesday announced indefinite closure of the varsity over the jallikattu issue. Vice-Chancellor of the university K Ramasamy told DTNext that the indefinite closure with effect from Thursday was announced considering the safety of girls taking part in the protest.