Moving swiftly, the Centre cleared an ordinance on Jallikattu on Friday, paving the way for Tamil Nadu government to promulgate it in an effort to end the protests that have paralysed the state for the last four days. Following up on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, the Ministries of Home, Law and Environment vetted the state’s draft ordinance and cleared the amendment that will denotify the bull from the list of “performing animals”.
This will ensure that provisions of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act will not apply to the bull. The ordinance has been forwarded to the state government, a Home Ministry spokesman said. It has been sent without the need of referring it to the President of India.
Tamil Nadu Cabinet is expected to meet on Saturday morning to clear the ordinance and recommend it to the Governor Vidyasagar Rao for promulgation. Rao, who is also Governor of Maharashtra, is reaching Chennai on Saturday morning.
Jallikattu bull-taming sport, an age-old annual event during Pongal is very popular in Tamil Nadu. The Centre’s move came as Tamil Nadu has been brought to a standstill by a shutdown and protests by students, youths and other sections demanding immediate staging of the traditional sport in Alanganallur, epicentre of Jallikattu, and other places.
The protesters have said they would not withdraw the agitation until the event is held. Earlier, Panneerselvam, who stayed back in the national capital after his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, announced this morning that the state government would issue an ordinance in a day or two to allow Jallikattu. He said legal steps would be taken to remove “all obstacles” in the way of holding the sport.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh, on whom a large delegation of AIADMK MPs called, as also Environment Minister Anil Dave and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad gave assurances of early steps by the Centre to resolve the issue soon. Parallely, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the Supreme Court that the Centre was in talks with Tamil Nadu to find a way out in the matter after which the court agreed not to pass judgement for a week on the Jallikattu issue.
With the Centre drawing flak, BJP sought to project that its government was actively engaged in resolving the issue.
