Banning cultural games is DMK's motto: TN BJP chief Annamalai

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai on Thursday slammed the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government for refusing permission for the Eru Thazhuvuthal festival in Tamil Nadu. "Banning Tamil Nadu cultural games is one of the mottos of the DMK government. Today, the Krishnagiri people blocked roads for creating confusion while giving permission to Eru Thazhuvuthal. The government should give permission to the villagers demanding permission for Eru Thazhuvuthal," Annamalai said in a tweet.

Eru Thazhuvuthal is the popular bull-taming sport known as 'Jallikattu' and 'Mancuvirattu'. The sport is practised in Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal celebrations on the day of Mattu Pongal, as a bull is let loose among a crowd, and people participating in the sport are supposed to take control of the bull by holding on to its hump for as long as they can.

It is pertinent to mention that a protest was staged in Krishnagiri district after the district administration refused to give permission for conducting the bull-taming sport, which later turned violent as the police tried dispersing the crowd with lathi charge. Due to the protest, the traffic was halted for nearly two hours as the people blocked the Chennai-Bengaluru national highway following the lathi charge.

During the protest, at least 15 police personnel sustained injuries as the protestors pelted stones at the government buses and police personnel. As an aftermath of the protest, the police granted them permission to conduct the event for two hours and the crowd was later brought under control and the traffic was also regulated.

However, Superintendent of Krishnagiri Police (SP) Saroj Kumar Thakur said that the permission of the Collector is important to regulate the crowd and ensure no fatalities. "People have a demand that they want Eru Thazhuvuthal in all places in Krishnagiri. Few people were injured and that too minor injuries. You all have to understand the simple point that there is no permission, Collector permission and GO for bull release events. If we allow the bull event there would be death. They were not following norms. So, to regulate the crowd and ensure no deaths, we are saying that the permission of the collector is a must.

"We are saying get proper permission, if you don't have it, we cannot allow the bull release events," he said further. He further said that no person has been arrested so far but around 11 vehicles have been damaged. An action would be initiated against the ones indulged in violence, he added.

The 'Mann Kuthal' process also takes place in which bulls are trained to develop their skills by digging their horns in the wet earth. Bulls are prepared to attack when someone tries to catch their hump. However, the sport brings its own cons with it despite being celebrated with great enthusiasm in the state.

A minor boy, Gokul (14) of Palacodde, at the viewer's arena, succumbed after he was gored by a raging bull at the Jallikattu event in Dharmapuri district, the officials of the district administration said on January 22. During the final stage of the event, a bull-tamer failed to reign in his bull and the raging animal sprung out of the Vaadivasal and pierced the left abdomen of Gokul.

The officials had said that as many as 34 people were injured by bulls in Manjuvirattu events conducted in Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga on January 19. On January 15, at least 19 persons were grievously injured by raging bulls involved in a Jallikattu event at Avaniyapuram in Madurai.