The recent upheaval at Chennai’s famed Marina Beach
and other parts of the state by agitating students, who virtually kept the
state administration under siege with a single demand of reviving the age-old
bull taming event “Jallikattu”, can be viewed as a strong emergence of dominant
student force in the state against such common issues.
Thousands of people joined students at Marina and
other places in Tamil Nadu to air their dismay against the ban on “Jallikattu,”
orchestrated by People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA), asking Central and
State government to take steps to revive the event from this year’s Pongal
festival.
The annual event, which has been held for thousands of years on the second day of the harvest festival Pongal (Mattu Pongal), was banned by the Supreme Court in 2014 saying that event accounts to astute cruelty on animals.
Spread by messages by a few students through Twitter,
Face Book and Watsapp to assemble at Marina Beach for a simple sit-in protest
on January 15, the place witnessed historical gathering amounting to more than
five-lakh people including students, parents, villagers and office goers, who
wanted government to bring in an emergency ordinance to hold the event.
Not even in Tamil Nadu, the entire Tamil Community
across the world including in the US, UK, Sri Lanka, Australia, Canada,
Singapore and Malaysia expressed their support to Jallikattu and joined hands
to protest against PeTA’s move to make native bulls extinct and promote Western
breeds in India through Jallikattu ban.
It was the great effort by the students, who did not
represent any political organization nor allowed any politician or film
personality to hijack their seven-day old peaceful protest, which caught the
attention of the world and media that praised them for keeping the event
peaceful while putting pressure on the government to bring in a permanent
solution to conduct the event year after year.
Peaceful
Protests Turn Violent
The government finally succumbed to the popular
demand and promulgated the ordinance on January 23 which was made as a Law in
the state assembly. However, the
seven-day peaceful protest turned ugly on Monday with police resorting to baton
charge, fired gunshots in the air and threw
teargas shells on agitators, who became violent when police tried to remove
them forcefully from Marina after they were asked to leave peacefully.
Hundreds of people, including students and police,
were injured in the incident. The students were preparing to celebrate their
success with a 500kg cake on Monday, when the cops asked them to vacate the
venue, it is reliably learnt. It was highly unfortunate that many innocent boys
and girls got injured who had congregated for a peaceful demonstration.
Had the government informed the students about the impending
Bill and discussed the content of it when it was notified on January 21, the
matter would have been ended peacefully. Call it miscommunication or deliberate
attempt by some miscreants who wanted to hijack the real cause of the
agitation, it is highly unfortunate that the ‘leaderless’ agitators finally had
to call off the strike after a bloodbath and arson.
Headless
and Powerless
Though students have shown exemplary courage and
restraints to protest against Jallikattu ban, they were handicapped by not
having a strong leadership to take their demands through proper channels to the
government, bureaucrats or media. They should have united under a single banner
with members drawn from each college in the state.
Every college can send five student members to the Federation
every year on rotation, who represent and fight for a cause of public interest.
They can even register the federation and fight the local election. In such
case, their unity would be strong and member should be guided by bylaws to
prevent infringements which can dilute the very base of the organization.
With people pouring on Tamil Nadu roads for a common
cause, it can herald a new beginning of a strong and corruption-free state
dominated by youth power.
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