Ordinance clears way for Jallikattu

New Delhi/Chennai: On a day when Tamil Nadu downed its shutters in response to the call for a dawn-to-dusk strike to press for the return of Jallikattu, three Union ministries — law, environment and home — cleared the state government’s ordinance on the bull-taming sport. The ordinance is likely to be issued by Saturday evening.

The ordinance, approved by the home ministry, will be placed before the Tamil Nadu Cabinet for its approval on Saturday morning after which it will be sent to governor Vidyasagar Rao for promulgation. Mr Rao, who is in Maharashtra, will be in the city on Saturday morning. Once the Governor promulgates the ordinance, Jallikattu can be conducted at any time.

Buckling under tremendous pressure, the Tamil Nadu government had, on Friday morning, submitted an ordinance to the Centre, to bring a state-specific amendment to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act that seeks to remove the bull from the list of performing animals.

Chief minister O. Panneerselvam, who was at the forefront of efforts to bring an ordinance, declared on his arrival in Chennai from New Delhi on Friday afternoon that bulls would come out roaring from the “vaadi vaasal” (the gateway through which the bulls enter the Jallikattu track) “very soon”. The approval from the home minister, who signed the ordinance as powers to sign on behalf of the President are vested with him, came on a day of fast-paced developments with approvals from Union environment, law and home ministries coming in a span of record 13 hours.Working at a feverish pitch, the Tamil Nadu and the Union governments moved swiftly. Starting at around 8 am, the ordinance first went to the home ministry, which forwarded it to environment and law ministries for their comments.

The home ministry gave its nod to the ordinance after consulting attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, and after the law and environment ministries had cleared it.  

Tamil Nadu chief minister O. Panneerselvam said in Chennai that the ordinance to allow Jallikattu would be in place in a day or two and that legal steps would be taken to tackle any “obstacles”.

“Tomorrow or day-after-tomorrow, the joyous news of ordinance will come. For sure Jallikattu will be held in Tamil Nadu,” he said.

Asked if he will inaugurate Jallikattu, Mr Panneerselvam told reporters, “It will happen according to your wishes.”

The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), on whose petitions the Supreme Court had banned Jallikattu, are keeping track of the developments, but remained non-committal on whether they would oppose it or not.