Indian sports fraternity comes out in support of Jallikattu
What's the news?
Stars from the Indian sporting fraternity have come together strongly to support the ongoing protests against the ban of traditional Tamil Nadu sport Jallikattu. Prominent sporting personalities including Viswanathan Anand, Ravichandran Ashwin, Virender Sehwag and Mohammad Kaif have voiced their opinions on social media portals, calling for the upliftment of the ban.
Chess legend Vishwanathan Anand took to his Twitter handle in order to make his opinion on the matter known. The usually calm and composed champion Anand was pretty outspoken through his Tweets, expressing great pride in how the people of Tamil Nadu have come together to protest against something that is a threat to their culture. Cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin, on the other hand, expressed how peaceful protests are going to help in communicating the cause.
It was not just Tamilian sportspersons who supported Jallikattu, Mohammad Kaif and Virender Sehwag also said that the protests were absolutely legitimate and their peaceful nature would go a long way supporting their cause. Another former cricketer, Kris Srikkanth, appeared on a news channel and said that there is no need to ban Jallikattu and it is extremely close to the heart of people from Tamil Nadu.
In case you didn't know
Widespread protests have broken out in Tamil Nadu to protest against the ban on the age-old bull-taming sport, which is a cultural symbol of the state’s ancient history. Tamilians all across the countries marched out of their homes to peacefully protest against the ban and the numbers are increasing by the hour, forcing the Prime Minister to take cognizance of the matter.
The heart of the matter
While animal rights activists are standing by their stance of calling the sport a torture against innocent animals, the Tamilian point of view is that there is no palpable torture involved and the sport must not be discontinued, given its cultural and traditional relevance. Opinions, ranging from political, social and cultural, are coming from all over the country and people are taking stands, for or against Jallikattu.
Sportskeeda’s take
There is no simple answer to this problem, given the kind of complications that exist in the matter but it surely quite close to the heart of the people of Tamil Nadu. On the other hand, claims of animal rights activists cannot be completley ignore because the sport involves some amount of discomfort to the animal. There is also a political angle to the entire episode and with elections coming up, parties might be looking to score brownie points by getting involved. However, what stands out in the matter is the unity and peacefulness shown by people of Tamil Nadu and their way of protesting.
Tweetspeak