SOUTH
Tamil actors are known for their vociferous backing to the causes of the state. Be it water dispute, language or anything from politics to films stars have been vocal in their support to anything that deals with Tamil Nadu, and its culture.
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The Opposition Party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Congress parties have blamed it on the ruling AIADMK and said that the party has failed in understanding the Tamil people’s sentiment and putting pressure on the Centre and the judiciary to lift the ban on Jallikattu.
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The current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Pannerselvam wrote to the Centre demanding an ordinance allowing the state to celebrate Pongal with Jallikattu.
“Given that the Pongal festival which holds great importance to the people of Tamil Nadu is less than a week away and Jallikattu is an integral part of the Pongal festivities, considering the urgency of the issue, the government of India should consider promulgating an ordinance removing the legal impediments enabling the conduct of Jallikattu during Pongal, 2017,” he wrote.
The Supreme Court had in 2014 and again in January 2016 ruled against organising Jallikattu. Thus, Tamil Nadu had celebrated Pongal in 2014 and 2015 without Jallikattu.
Meanwhile, there were also reports that people from Tamil Nadu took their bulls out of the state and conducted the sport in some villages of Karnataka as they thought it was a safe place to conduct the sport out of Tamil Nadu.
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Currently, the protest has been intensified on the digital media. There are many pages supporting Jallikattu. In addition, the tags #WedoJallikattu #JallikattuforSure #JallikattuBullFight are doing rounds.
This is how much the actors and common people want Jallikattu during Pongal.