The jallikattu controversy begins again. On Monday, actor Vishal found himself under fire after he asked people to follow the Supreme Court’s order on banning jallikattu.
Balakumar Somu, a pro jallikattu activist told The News Minute, “Vishal has no right to comment on our culture. What does he know about the importance of jallikattu and how it is interlinked with the agriculture structure here? So being a Telugu he might never understand what jallikattu is. We strongly condemn what Vishal has said.”
He also went on to add "We request South Indian Film Artistes’ Association and others to refrain from making statements on such topics. If he is a real supporter, has he even saved one bull which was being taken to a slaughter house?"
Claiming that actors make statements like these for publicity, Somu said "They just said whatever they have been fed, to gain some publicity. Tamils will never give up jallikattu. It has a recorded history of more than 5000 years."
He also called actor Vishal ‘an arm-chair activist’ and said that "these arm-chair activists will not come out and do anything."
Talking about the jallikattu race, he said "All over Tamil Nadu, many bulls are out of work as machines have replaced them. These bulls are kept only for the races and if that does not happen, all these breeds will vanish from the state."
He added that the Alambadi bull breed has already vanished and the Pulikulam bull has become an endangered animal.
When asked about the harm caused to the bulls during the game, Somu said that "injuring bulls is considered a bad omen by the villagers" and added that "people outside Tamil Nadu do not understand these things."
“We want Vishal to take back the statement and apologize to the people of Tamil Nadu,” he said.