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TN parties welcome ordinance, say it is not permanent solution

Animals rights group PETA, on the other hand, said it will study the ordinance.

Chennai: The main opposition DMK and other parties, including PMK, welcomed the state government's ordinance that has paved the way for holding jallikattu even as they praised the students' stir describing it as 'revolutionary'.

Animals rights group PETA, on the other hand, said it will study the ordinance.

Winding up a day-long fast here, DMK working chief M K Stalin said, "Our goal is jallikattu must be held. The feelings of Tamils should be respected and our culture should be guarded and that is why we welcome the ordinance at once".

However, ordinance alone was not enough, he said. Stalin, also the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, said "bulls should be removed from the performing animals list and an amendment should be done for it (indicating that the Centre should do it) and that alone can be the permanent solution."

"Not only for this year, in any year, there should be no ban for jallikattu," he said.

"Central government should take back its notification (that banned jallikattu) and pave the way for jallikattu using bulls," he said.

Stalin compared the agitation of students at Marina beach to the anti-Hindi stir spearheaded by students in 1965 and hailed the demonstration as "historic" which, he said, will go down in the pages of history as "Marina Revolution."

He extended his "greetings and congratulations" to the students for their 'historic' stir.

He said breach of conditions laid down by the Supreme Court during the AIADMK regime was the reason for the ban on jallikattu.

Welcoming the ordinance, PMK chief Ramadoss, however, said it did not "appear to be a permanent solution."

"To provide permanent legal protection for jallikattu," he said "Tamil Nadu government should continue to urge the Centre to remove bulls from the list of animals banned to perform by amending the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

I urge the Centre to bring an amendment Bill and pass it in the upcoming Parliamentary session," he said.

MDMK chief Vaiko too hailed the students for their protest and said it led to the ordinance being promulgated and praised the Marina stir as "Marina revolution."

BJP Tamil Nadu unit president Tamilisai Soundararajan, in a tweet, said, "Hon'ble PM @narendramodi Thank you for bringing out the ordinance on #jallikattu. We Tamilians are grateful for ur support to save our culture."

Union Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan thanked Modi and his party chief Amit Shah for the ordinance.

PETA said, "We await a draft of the new ordinance and shall study it. Of course the judgement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India is still pending and the matter remains sub-judice."

Recalling Mahatma Gandhi's quote on the importance of good treatment of animals, it said, PETA India believes that one day all "bloodsports" worldwide will be relegated to the history books, even if that day is not today."

( Source : PTI )
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