TRICHY: Members of Veera Vilayattu Meetpu Kazhagam burnt the portraits of film director
Soundarya Rajinikanth in
Trichy on Tuesday asking her to step down as ambassador of Animal Welfare Board of India (
AWBI), which was instrumental for the Supreme Court ban on
jallikattu (bull taming).
Kazhagam members are planning to meet her father, superstar Rajinikanth, to urge him to advise her to step down from the post.
Raising slogans against AWBI, around 50 members gathered near Trichy Railway Junction and burnt the photos of Soundarya as a mark of protest. They shouted slogans demanding Soundarya to dissociate with AWBI considering the sentiments of Tamils.
The kazhagam is planning a series of protests if she doesn’t step down.
“It is disappointing to learn that daughter of a popular film actor like
Rajinikanth has been working against the sentiments of the people in the state,” said president of Veera Vilayattu Meetpu Kazhagam T Rajesh.
“While jallikattu ban in the past two years has pushed several native breeds of bull to extinction, Rajinikanth’s silence over the issue has been disheartening,” he said.
He said most of the movies of Rajinikanth highlighted Tamil culture and he had even acted as a bull tamer in a move. “The ban on jallikattu is posing danger to Tamil culture as several temple functions could not be performed,” he said.
He criticised Rajinikanth’s silence on the Cauvery water dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. “Despite knowing the interests of Tamil people, Rajinikanth chose to remain silent on Cauvery issue,” he said.