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After promising to ban jallikattu in 2016, Congress now arranges for Rahul Gandhi to attend a jallikattu event in Madurai

The Commune

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is set to visit Tamil Nadu on January 14, and watch a jallikattu event in Avaniapuram near Madurai during the Pongal festivities. The Wayanad MP’s visit comes ahead of the Tamil Nadu assembly polls due in April-May this year.

“Rahul Gandhi will participate in the jallikattu event at Avaniapuram on January 14. The bull is very closely connected to the farming community, and our leader’s presence at a bull-taming sport will come as a moral support to lakhs of farmers who are on the streets protesting against the Centre’s farm bills,” Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) President K S Alagiri said on January 12.

Rahul Gandhi will arrive at the Madurai Airport at around 10.30 am and drive straight to Avaniapuram, which is just 9 km away from Madurai, to watch the bull-taming sport. After spending about four hours in Madurai, he will head back to Delhi.

Rahul Gandhi’s attendance at the jallikattu event will mark the beginning of the Rahulin Tamil Vanakkam (Rahul’s Tamil Welcome) campaign of the Tamil Nadu Congress. It is likely that he will visit various parts of Tamil Nadu in the run up to the assembly elections and address a rally in the Western part of the state in the next few weeks.

Jallikattu is an ancient traditional bull-taming sport conducted as part of Pongal festivities in various parts of Tamil Nadu. The sport dates as far back as the famed Sangam period. The events at Avaniapuram, Alanganallur, and Palamedu – all close to Madurai – have, in the past few decades, attained popularity across the globe. The sport was banned by the Supreme Court in 2014. Massive protests against the ban were held in Tamil Nadu in 2016 and 2017. In 2017, the then Tamil Nadu governor lifted the ban via ordinance and the Tamil Nadu legislature passed a bill, which effectively lifted the ban and allowed for the continuing of jallikattu events.

Interestingly, the Congress, in its 2016 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections manifesto, had promised to ban the sport. This was pointed out by Tamil Nadu BJP spokesperson SG Suryah on social media platform Twitter. He also shared the relevant page of the Congress manifesto in another tweet.

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