CHENNAI & MADURAI:Looking unperturbed by the developments in Alanganallur, the hub of bull taming sport, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Sunday stated that the government would move a draft bill to replace the jallikattu ordinance on the floor of the Assembly which convenes for customary first session of the year on Monday.
O Panneerselvam, who on Saturday night rushed to Madurai ambitiously to launch jallikattu at Alanganallur scheduled for the next day morning, had to return empty-handed as the protesters remained dogged in refusing to give up the stir until a permanent solution was found to the vexatious issue.
Talking to reporters at Chennai airport, the Chief Minister said, “A draft bill (replacing Jallikattu ordinance) will be moved in the Assembly when the session begins on Monday to enact the law.”
“I hope we will obtain the consent of the President for the law,” he added. Reiterating that the curbs on jallikattu were fully removed with the promulgation of the ordinance, the Chief Minister claimed that vadivasal was opened wherever jallikattu was being held with the District Collectors supervising the conduct of the sport and the Superintendents of Police providing security for the event.
Following two days of intense parleys, including a meeting with the Prime Minister on January 19 the Chief Minister had in New Delhi, the Animal Husbandry Department of Tamil Nadu government promulgated the much-expected ordinance on January 21 to enable holding jallikattu without any legal hurdles.
Earlier in the day, O Panneerselvam assured the people of Tamil Nadu that jallikattu would be conducted at Alanganallur, a village in Madurai district which is internationally famous for the sport, only when they wished.
Addressing media persons before leaving for Chennai, he reassured, “The ordinance brought by the government is not temporary. It is a permanent legal measure. The draft of the ordinance will be tabled in the coming assembly session and enacted as a law.”
Asked about anti-jallikattu organisations like PETA’s anticipated move to stall the state’s native rural sport, the Chief Minister promised, “If those organisations take any such measure against conducting the sport in our state, it will be defeated by the Tamil Nadu government.” He said the district administration has given permission to hold the sport in places where they happen and police protection has been given. “It will be conducted in Alanganallur when the people wished. The ban on the sport has been fully removed.”
He further said that he went to New Delhi and urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help conduct the Tamils’ traditional sport and he too assured that the centre would stand by the Tamil Nadu government’s legal measures.
“Clearance was obtained from the union home, law and environment and forest ministries and assent from the President following which an ordinance was promulgated on Saturday,” Panneerselvam said, adding that his party’s general secretary V K Sasikala too wrote to the PM Modi to help remove the hurdles and conduct the sport.
The chief minister was in Madurai to inaugurate jallikattu scheduled to be held by the state government at Alanganallur on Sunday morning. However, it could not conduct due to the stiff resistance of the local people who demanded a “permanent solution” to the issue. Fearing that it would not be an annual affair but a temporary one being announced in haste, they and the supporters vehemently opposed the move.
People’s resistance forced the Chief Minister to drop the move after holding discussions with the secretaries and the officials of the district administration in a private hotel on Alagarkoil road.