What makes SC play Jallikattu with Hindus

The Supreme Court of India has been consistently inconsistent on vital issues affecting the long cherished hopes, emotions, feelings, sentiments and sensibilities of the common people of India. Yesterday the Supreme Court reversed the ban it had imposed on Jallikattu in the Southern Districts of Tamil Nadu which it had imposed through an order on 11 January, 2008. This has been widely welcomed by the people of Tamil Nadu.

The Supreme Court issued the ban order on 11 January, 2008 terming it as barbaric and inhuman as bulls were tortured, administered chilli powder and local brew to make them charge in an enraged manner. Soon after this ban order was announced, there was a visible public uproar in Southern Tamil Nadu. The public consternation arose because of the public perception that the Supreme Court of India was trying to crush the age-old religious feelings and sentiments of the people. Thousands of them were determined to defy the ban order of the Supreme Court and the public slogan was "Ignore the Supreme Court order ! Come out into the open and participate in Jallikattu at any cost, without any fear. Hold fast to your Jallikattu convictions !" Many people in the rural areas of Madurai, Dindugal, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar and Tirunelveli Districts considered the Supreme Court's peremptory ban on Jallikattu as a direct religious and cultural attack on the Hindus of Tamil Nadu.

Surprisingly enough, the Government of Tamil Nadu came out with the argument that the ban on the 600 years old traditional event of Jallikattu would hurt peoples' religious feelings and sentiments. Referring to many intelligence reports, Government of Tamil Nadu stated "in most villages, the people have decided to defy the Supreme Court order and to go ahead with the celebration of Jallikattu as usual........This situation could create a major law and order problem in many places during the Pongal festival". Thus two basic issues were raised by the Government of Tamil Nadu for getting the earlier ban order revoked by the Supreme Court. They are : a) religious feelings of the people would get hurt. b) There will be a breakdown of law and order because the people are determined to defy the orders of the Supreme Court.

It is understood that the Supreme Court put two relevant and embarrassing questions to the Counsel appearing for Tamil Nadu Government : 1. Why is the Tamil Nadu Government invoking religious sentiments in this Jallikattu case ?. 2. What would be their stand in the Rama Sethu case pending before the Supreme Court ?

The Hindus of India in absolute majority expect the Supreme Court of India not to function as the fountainhead of religious and political discrimination at the apex level. When Dayananda Saraswathy, several other Madadhipathis and may others filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court of India in August 2006, seeking a ban on the demolition of more than 1.7 million years old Rama Sethu ( even according to NASA report ), the Supreme Court rejected it summarily. Now on a petition filed by Tamil Nadu Government for removing a ban on Jallikattu on the ground that it is an event which has been going on in Tamil Nadu for over 400 years and that a ban on it would hurt the religious feelings of the people, the Supreme Court has reversed its order of January 11, 2008 in just 5 days. If the religious feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu can get hurt by a ban on Jallikattu, the Supreme Court should not fail to take note of the fact that the deliberate attempt of UPA Government to destroy the timeless Rama Sethu bridge in Rameswaram will equally hurt ( if not more ! ) the religious feelings of nearly 900 millions of Hindus in India and also of millions of Hindus outside India in all the other parts of the world. Any court of law should be able to distinguish between Jallikattu which only has a local significance in Tamil Nadu and Rama Sethu which is of national and international significance.

If the Government of Tamil Nadu is concerned about the breakdown of law and order following the Supreme Court's ban on Jallikattu, it should not also ignore the fact that if the might of the State is deployed for the planned destruction of Rama Sethu, which has been in existence for centuries, all the Hindus of India would not hesitate to unite in order to take the matter to the streets for asserting and claiming their age old Hindu rights regarding Rama Sethu. In that event, there will be a greater breakdown of law and order not only in Tamil Nadu but throughout the nation.

I can do no better than conclude in the words of Anjana Suthan :

"The 'Bull' (Rishabam in Sanskrit & Kaalai in Tamil) is worshipped as 'Nandhi' Bhagwan by the Hindus. The Nandhi Bhagwan has exposed the hypocrisy of the Tamil Nadu government and the duplicity of Dravidianism through the 'Jalli Kattu' controversy. The rationalist Tamil Nadu government headed by an Atheist Chief Minister, which questioned the truth of Ramayana, historicity of Lord Rama and existence of thousands of years old Rama Sethu in the ongoing SSCP controversy, had shamelessly taken shelter under 'Hindu Religion' while arguing its case for the conduction of Jalli Kattu. While the 'Bull fight' has only cultural tradition and not any religiousness attached to it, the state government had presented to the Apex Court that, the Bull fight organized during the Pongal festival is an ancient traditional sports more than 400 years old and that the stopping of such a sport would hurt the 'religious' sentiments of the people. The government had requested the SC to lift the stay on the above grounds and the Supreme Court had obliged only after laying certain conditions such as, the organizers must obtain permission from the district Collector, registration must be made, Animal Husbandry officials must inspect the Bulls, participants must be registered, Medical facilities & presence of Veterinary teams must be ensured, the event must come under the observation of Animal Welfare Board Members and the event must be video graphed by government media like Doordarshan. The stay was lifted only late in the afternoon yesterday, but surprisingly the event is 'on' today itself in Alanganallur. One wonders how the District Administration could ensure all the above guidelines annexed by the SC within 24 hrs!..... In the process, the Supreme Court also stands totally exposed! The Supreme Court, which delayed to the maximum possible extent to grant a stay on the destruction of Sacred Rama Sethu, when arguments were made and hell of a lot of Proofs & authentic documents were submitted on Religious grounds, had yielded to the Atheist state government in just one sitting, on the same religious grounds. What an irony!"

(The writer is a retired IAS officer)

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