Supporting the demand for holding of Jallikattu, VHP said on Thursday the judiciary should not interfere in ancient beliefs of the Hindus and that those who are “sentimental” about bulls’ lives better demand a ban on cow slaughter.
“We urge all in the society at large, in all governments, judiciary and media not to interfere in ancient beliefs, faiths and religious feelings of Hindus like Jallikattu, Ganesh/Durga visarjan etc,” VHP International Working president Pravin Togadia said.
Togadia’s statement came on a day when swelled on the streets of Tamil Nadu.
“If anyone is so sentimental about bulls’ lives then come with us in our demand of a national law banning any slaughter of cow progeny,” the VHP leader said, in an apparent reference to animal rights body PETA which has been opposing bull-taming sport Jallikattu.
The fresh wave of protests was triggered by the Supreme Court’s refusal last week to pass an order before the Pongal celebrations in mid-January, the time when Jallikattu is held. Earlier, the top court had struck down of a central notification allowing the sport.
Experts fear the Jallikattu protests could turn into a bigger uprising like the anti-Hindi riots, which took place during the Dravidian movement.
Tamil Nadu witnessed large scale protests by students in the 1960s over the imposition of Hindi as the official language in the state, with the majority Dravidian community fiercely opposing it before the order was rolled back by the central government.
Those protests were led by Periyar’s Dravidar Kazhagam and later the DMK. But the current demonstrations are a reflection of people’s anger against political figures.
Thousands of protesters across the state vowed that their apolitical demonstration will continue as long as the ban is not lifted.
Source: HindustanTimes