Jallikatu Protest in Chennai- In Retrospect and Prospects
"There is no justice in following unjust laws. It's time to come into the light and in the grand tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to this private theft of public culture" said Aaron swartz a famous American programmer.
This theme perfectly comes true in Jallikattu protest. The ultimate aim of 2017 pro -jallikattu protests, also known as pro jallikattu movement or Thai puratchi is not only to protest against Supreme Court's order but also to protect the Tamil culture and most primary is to help farmers of Tamilnadu.
The protest is not the apt word to describe it because protest means doing offence or to be more specific the one should face loss in their way or result. But in the case of jallikattu mass gathering students suffered the most but they did not give up in the long way of their battles. The question is they fought for themselves? No...
Whether for their families? No...
Whether for the religious reasons? No...
They fought for their Bull...Yes!
This shows the kindness and love of Tamil people towards their cattle's.
We know the basic science that Food is essential for every human and the farmers are the god seen to the naked eyes after our parents and this is well known by students more than matured people in this country.
Most of the outsiders see it as to protect culture but when we go into depth we can understand that it is to protect the local breeds of cows like Kangayam, etc.,
Coming to jallikattu, it is conducted on the second day of Pongal-the harvest festival. This cultural sport was banned by SC in a decision citing that animal cruelty based on lawsuit filed by PETA which asserted that the tradition violates the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA).
The first large protest occurred on January 8 when several groups, organized largely via social media, conducted a protest at the Marina beach in Chennai to revoke the ban on jallikattu which was imposed in 2014.
These groups also demanded that PETA be banned from India. The protests soon gained momentum and spread all over Tamil Nadu.
After several days of protests, jallikattu was finally legalized locally on 23 January when the Government of Tamil Nadu passed a bill to amend the PCA Act.
As the legalization is not Indian federal law, but rather state law, there is concern from Indian legal experts that jallikattu could be banned once again by the SC
The largely peaceful nature of the protests received praise from all over the country. To be more it gained support from many countries other than our own country.
"We have not yet realized that Indian and his culture were fundamental to the growth of Canadian institutions" said Canadian economics professor Harold Innis.
But the Canadian first citizen and even all the citizen understood the Tamil culture and they supported Tamil culture and they honored Tamil culture and people by declaring January as TAMIL MONTH in Canada. The mass gathering of this event took place in cover page of American magazine thus by drawing attention of the world people by their disciplinary movement.
The public support towards Jallikattu begun on January 4 but mass gathering at marina begin two weeks later to be more exactly on January 19. Students raise their voice against SC act and ban of PETA from India.
Why to ban PETA is a major question here? Some hidden truths came into light under hard situations. Likewise the flipside of PETA came into existence by student's mass gathering at Marina. Many viral videos have spread across the social websites like how PETA get milk from cows to increase their production and about the usual thing happening in US where pets are killed by PETA after the 15 days of recovery of animals from streets.
On January 20, the Tamilnadu CM went to Delhi to get a solution but he returned with a temporary solution which did not satisfy people of Tamilnadu hence the protest continued. On January 21 political parties tried to participate but they were denied by Students at Marina. On January 22 , government tried to conduct as Government festival which was not accepted and it cost the life of 2 innocent people.
"Believe in yourself and world will be at your feet" is a famous quote by Vivekananda which comes true on January 24 when government passed permanent ordinance. On the very same day PETA claimed SC but it withdrew its petition from the very next day.
"You have to taste a culture to understand it" is a saying dedicated to those who protest for the ban of Jallikattu. The beauty of the world lies in the diversity of people. Yes !the beauty of India lies in its diverse culture. None of the nation's organization can protest against it.
"What we want are some young men who will renounce everything and sacrifice their lives for their country's sake" is Vivekananda's sayings. Yes the young men and Women of Tamilnadu has proven their cultural unity and kindness towards their traditional animals.
- Lavanya sree
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