CHENNAI: AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran on Saturday condemned a remark by TVK’s Sholavandan MLA VM Karuppaiah that jallikattu competitions were ruining the youth, and questioned whether the TVK government was planning to impose a ban on the traditional sport in future.“Is this the TVK’s stand on jallikattu?” Dhinakaran asked, demanding that the party leadership make its position clear on the sport, which he described as an integral part of Tamil culture, valour and agrarian life.He made the statement pointing to Karuppaiah’s statement during the debate on demand for grants for Housing and Urban Development on Friday.“The National Cooperative Sugar Mill in Alanganallur has been lying closed for the last 10 years. If Rs 50 crore had been allocated, that sugar mill could have been reopened. Instead of spending such a huge sum of money on a Jallikattu stadium that ruins the youth and society, if that money had been given to the sugar mill, it could have been restarted,” Sholavandan MLA said.Dhinakaran said it was particularly objectionable that such a remark came from the MLA representing the Sholavandan constituency, which includes Alanganallur, internationally known for its jallikattu events.He questioned whether the remark was part of a “pre-planned” move, as it had not been removed from the Assembly records.He recalled the statewide protests by students, youth and people from all sections of society, from Alanganallur to Chennai’s Marina, which led to the restoration of jallikattu as a traditional right.Dhinakaran also drew a parallel with the TVK government’s decision to provide cars using taxpayers’ money to retain its MLAs, alleging that the government had used its own legislators to move such a proposal in the Assembly.He demanded that Assembly Speaker Prabhakar expunge the TVK MLA’s remarks from the House records and urged the legislator to withdraw the statement and express regret.Dhinakaran said the TVK leadership should publicly clarify whether the remarks reflected the party’s position on jallikattu.
