Personally in favour of Jallikattu: Venkaiah Naidu

Chennai: Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said that though personally he has no objections to Jallikattu, the verdict of the Supreme Court should be respected.

“Jallikattu, according to me personally …has been a traditional art and play in Tamil Nadu and nobody should have any objection. But when the highest court of the land has given a verdict, I as a minister I am not supposed to contradict the court stand,” Mr Naidu, Union minister of urban development, housing and urban poverty alleviation, said. Responding to questions whether the BJP government would bring an ordinance to ensure conduct of Jallikattu, Mr Naidu said there are suggestions to bring an amendment to the law, like the Union government did in the Shah Bano case (1985). “I can’t say anything because I am not dealing with the subject. If we amend, we have to see whether it will stand the scrutiny of law,” he said.

With Pongal, the biggest harvest festival of Tamil Nadu, round the corner, the issue of banned Jallikattu, a bull-taming sport traditionally linked to festivities, has once again come to the fore.

In 2011, during the UPA rule, the environment ministry added bulls to its 1991 notification banning the training and exhibition of bears, monkeys, tigers, panthers and dogs. The notification was challenged in the SC and was upheld in 2014.

Under the NDA government, the ministry in 2016 modified its earlier notification and declared that the sport could continue despite the ban. This was challenged by animal welfare organisations and a stay order was issued by the court.