BJP questions Congress' flip-flop on Jallikattu ahead of Rahul Gandhi's Madurai visit

BJP lashed out at Congress’ alleged hypocrisy on Jallikattu ahead of Rahul Gandhi's attendance at a bull-taming event in Madurai on Thursday. Tamil Nadu Congress chief KS Alagiri mentioned that the Wayanad MP will lend his moral support to farmers protesting against the agrarian laws by witnessing the sport at Avaniyapuram Arena in Madurai on the occasion of Pongal. "The bull is a symbol of farmers and part of their lives,” Alagiri observed, adding that Gandhi shall not engage in any election campaign on January 14. 

According to TN BJP spokesperson SG Suryah, Congress had ensured the ban on Jallikattu and reiterated the same in its 2016 Assembly election manifesto. Alleging that senior Congress leaders such as Jairam Ramesh and Manmohan Singh were responsible for the ban on Jallikattu, he urged the people to shoo away Gandhi during his TN visit. However, the state unit of the Congress party dubbed this as “false news” and claimed that it had promised to revoke the ban on the bull-taming sport as per point 55 of its manifesto.  

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Retorting to Congress’ explanation, BJP claimed that Congress had retrospectively amended its 2016 manifesto post the widespread protests against the Jallikattu ban in Tamil Nadu. Khushbu Sundar, a Congress leader who recently joined BJP, made this revelation on Twitter. Speaking to the media on the former Congress president's impending visit to the state, Sundar said, “They are desperate to come and show that they are with people. Jallikattu did not happen because of Jairam Ramesh who gave a reference to PETA and animal cruelty. Rahul Gandhi wants to prove himself as a leader, we welcome him". 

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Controversy over Jallikattu 

Jallikattu is a traditional bull-taming sport conducted during the Pongal festival in Tamil Nadu. On May 7, 2014, the Supreme Court imposed a ban on Jallikattu based on petitions by the Animal Welfare Board of India and animal rights organization PETA. While the Environment Ministry permitted the continuation of the sport by modifying its earlier notification on January 7, 2016, the apex court stayed it 5 days later. This led to massive protests demanding the TN government to give permission to conduct Jallikattu in the state. 

On January 23, 2017, the TN Assembly unanimously cleared the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 2017 effectively legalising Jallikattu. The then President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to the amendment thus allowing the resumption of the sport in the state. So far, the SC has refused an interim stay on this legislation and referred all petitions challenging Jallikattu to a Constitution bench.  

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