Jallikattu: Crowd swells on Marina Beach, protests to cripple TN tomorrow

CHENNAI: Pro-jallikattu protests in Tamil Nadu — especially the three-day long mass demonstration on Chennai's Marina Beach — had far-reaching consequences by Thursday evening as business establishments, civic agencies, schools and colleges declared that they will shut down tomorrow in solidarity, effectively crippling the state.
Pro-jallikattu protests turned into an anti-Narendra Modi agitation after chief minister O Panneerselvam's talks with the Prime Minister didn’t yield the desired result.The protesters expected a promise from the Prime Minister on the immediate promulgation of an ordinance that would enable the conduct of the bull-taming sport in the state.
On Marina, the number of demonstrators kept swelling . By evening, nearly one lakh protesters had gathered to raise slogans against the central and state governments.
Tamil civil rights activists group 'May 17 Iyakkam' was one of the several organisations that conducted the protests, sustaining the crowd with anti-government speeches. Students and young professionals attired in black kept the crowd chanting and hooting with attacks on the establishment.
Playback singer Velmurugan, who penned a song on jallikattu, recited it to rapturous applause. A handful of other singers also performed songs against the ban. Ensuring that energy levels did not die down, groups of college students went around the crowd with drums, and danced as supporters waved placards deriding the people responsible for the ban. Photoshopped and morphed images of the state leadership in compromising positions kept the crowd jumping.
Solidarity Friday
Private schools announced that they were shutting down classes across the board as students would be affected by a strike called by auto and van drivers. Pharmacists' association also declared that they would shut down drug shops between 6am and 6pm on Friday, which could have dangerous implications for patients in medical emergencies, although the association later clarified that drug shops in hospitals would continue to function.
The domino effect started with auto, minivan and cabs association announcing that they would not ply their trade on Friday. The CITU auto union was the first to declare the strike and, although, there are about 10 different auto unions functional in the city, a senior CITU union representative said that 100 per cent compliance can be expected.
The impact of the strike on cab aggregator services like Ola and Uber will only be clear on Friday as the firm's representatives said it was "entirely up to the drivers themselves to decide" whether they would ply their vehicles or not.
There was not much confusion among the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation Unions as they unanimously decided that long distance buses servicing Chennai with the rest of Tamil Nadu wouldn't ply for 24 hours. Movie theatres and multiplexes too won't screen Tamil films between 9am and 6pm on Friday.
Year's first court boycott for jallikkattu
Top lawyers associations have declared a one-day token boycott as an expression of solidarity with the protesting youth. G Mohanakrishnan, the president of Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA) which is arguably the biggest lawyers forum in the country, set the ball rolling when he announced that lawyers would stay off courts on Friday. A decision to this effect was taken at an executive committee meeting headed by Mohanakrishnan.
In a rare gesture, Madras Bar Association (MBA) too announced its decision to boycott court proceedings on Friday. “Jallikkattu has evoked an unprecedented upsurge among youngsters and common people in Tamil Nadu and all over the world,” said R Shanmugasundaram, MBA president, in a notification.
“The members of MBA will abstain from court work on January 20 to show solidarity and wholehearted support to the protests,” Shanmugasundaram said.
Not one to be left behind, the Women Lawyers Association (WLA) too joined the boycott bandwagon when its president V Nalini issued a press statement noting that in support of the ongoing agitation demanding restoration of Jallikkattu and lifting of ban on the sport, the WLA had decided unanimously to abstain from all courts and tribunals on Friday.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Bar Association in Chennai also called for boycott of proceedings on Friday, as expression of solidarity and wholehearted support to the cause of Jallikattu.
When Modi disappointed protesters
Earlier in the day, when meeting with Panneerselvam in New Delhi, Modi said the jallikattu ban is sub judice in the Supreme Court. Though the Prime Minister appreciated the cultural significance of jallikattu and extended support to all steps taken by the state government, for thousands of youngsters - who had been holding protests across the state for the last few days - Modi’s reply appeared to be a sign of disrespect to Tamil culture.
Placards with Modi's portrait struck down were distributed among the crowd on Marina Beach. Protesters shouted slogans against Modi, Panneerselvam, AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikalaa and Union minister for child and women development Maneka Gandhi among others.
Opposition parties reacted strongly after the Pannerselvam-Modi meeting. DMK working president M K Stalin said it was “disappointing” that the Prime Minister refused to promulgate an ordinance. "On Wednesday, I said the chief minister must take representatives of all parties along with him when he went to meet the Prime Minister. But he wanted to meet the Prime Minister alone," said Stalin.
Stalin wanted the chief minister to immediately call an all-party meeting and also a special assembly session on Friday. "The special assembly session must pass a resolution on the issue. It is worrying that the Centre is turning a blind eye to the student protests. The chief minister must do whatever is possible so that the protest by students are called off," said Stalin.
PMK leader and former Union minister Anbumani Ramadoss said if the Centre fails to promulgates an ordinance, the party would hold a jallikattu event on January 26. "As the college students are protesting on their own, the government must react and promulgate an ordinance so that jallikattu can be held in the state. Otherwise PMK will hold jallikattu in all 32 districts on Republic Day," he said in a statement.