Protesters reject ordinance, want amendment

Threatening that Chief Minister O Panneerselvam would not be allowed to enter Alanganallur, they demanded a permanent amendment to PCA Act to ensure continuity of the age-old tradition.

The protesters made a public announcement that “We will not allow Panneerselvam near vaadivasal and would ghearo the CM.” They also dared him to come to Madurai. 

Registering their strong protest to the Ordinance passed on Saturday, the protesters made it clear that they would not accept anything less than an amendment to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, so that no one challenges the conduct of jallikattu even in future. 

One of the protesters Mugilan, a human rights activist, said that the Ordinance passed by the state government was only an ad hoc arrangement. “PETA on Monday will definitely challenge it in the Supreme Court, which will once again ban jallikattu,” the activist claimed. 

“We cannot stage such huge protests every year. Hence a permanent solution is needed,” he said. “The permanent relief lies only in an amendment to the PCA Act.

Public who are protesting in Alanganallur refused to give up even after Madurai Collector K Veera Raghava Rao and Superintendent of Police Vijayendra Bidari held talks with them. But, the protesters stood their ground and refused to listen to the officials’ appeal. The Collector tried his best to persuade them to drop their agitation by citing the Ordinance enacted by the state government. His explanation that the state government has taken into consideration the concerns of the people failed to cut any ice among the determined protesters. The protesters refused to buy the words of the district collector and continued to raise slogans for a permanent amendment to save jallikattu. The officials’ invite to the agitators to participate in Sunday’s jallikattu to be attended by the CM went unheeded. Later, the Collector and SP left the venue.