Chennai: MDMK general secretary Vaiko on Sunday demanded the central government to immediately promulgate an ordinance to delete the bulls from the list of wild animals as the pro-jallikattu protesters rejected the state government’s ordinance apprehending future ban.
“The ordinance promulgated yesterday, i.e. 21st January 2017, by the Governor Tamil Nadu, is not acceptable to the people of Tamil Nadu, particularly the millions of students who continue the agitation with discipline and peace, unprecedented in India. Their apprehension about the future ban on jallikkattu is justifiable, from the past experience in the Supreme Court,” he wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The reasonable question put forth by the people of Tamil Nadu - why not the Union Government promulgate an ordinance immediately to delete the bulls from the list of wild animals? I am afraid, if immediate steps are not taken by your Government, the resentment of Tamils may turn into wrath and anger against the Union Government. With all goodwill, I would request you to take immediate action to meet the demand of the Tamils, so that jallikkattu could be performed without any barrier in the future,” he noted.
“When you took a bold decision on demonetisation like a lightning, I came forward to welcome and congratulate your decision. In this serious issue also, I take the privilege of expecting such immediate action from you,” he said, cautioning, however, otherwise, peaceful agitation might take a violent turn which might cross all the limits, leading to unexpected consequences.
Vaiko’s request came in the wake of union ministers making it very clear that the Centre could not come out with an ordinance when the case is pending in the Supreme Court. Rejecting Vaiko’s demand, BJP state secretary K T Raghavan said that there was no need for the Centre to issue an ordinance when the state already promulgated it.
