The seven-day protest on the Marina
The Marina agitation was led by youth who demanded the withdrawal of the ban on jallikattu.
| Photo Credit: B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM
Following the death of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on December, 5, 2016, the city witnessed several protests and agitations, but the mother of public uprisings in the city was yet to happen.
On January 17, 2017, a group of persons gathered on Marina near Vivekananda House demanding to scrap the ban on traditional sport Jallikattu, bull taming. Later, it was learnt that the message passed through social media, and an impromptu crowd gathered by prior arrangement.
A day earlier – on 16 January 2017- villagers had protested in the town known globally for its jallikattu event -Alanganallur in Madurai district. The jallikattu was also conducted in defiance of the ban. Police arrested at least 200 of them after the protest.
The youth who had gathered in the Marina the next day raised slogans protesting the arrest of the villagers. What began as a small group of protestors – 50, soon swelled to many times that, with about 5000 people finding their way to the Marina by evening on January17. The demand of protesters was to lift the ban on jallikattu and uphold Tamil pride. The ban was imposed by the Supreme Court in 2014 following a petition filed by the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which alleged that it violated the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
The crowd did not budge despite the police requesting them multiple times to disperse. It was no longer possible to allow vehicular traffic on the road – and this is the primary route taken by the Chief Minister, ministers, officials to reach the secretariat. On the next day, the crowd rose to beyond 10,000. Students of colleges in the city and adjacent areas started to join the protesters leaving the police personnel stunned over the mammoth gathering. The question arose as to who the organisers of this massive protest were.
Subsequently, it came to light that behind the massive gathering on the Marina, there was a core group of over 100-odd persons working through various platforms, including social media networks. They first came together during the December deluge in 2015 when they formed social media groups to invite youth to render a helping hand to the affected people. These 100-odd persons became co-ordinators of 12 teams each, with each team comprising 200 members. About 2,500 IT professionals, college students and women came forward as volunteers.
“We decided to fight for the conduct of jallikattu, which is the pride of Tamils. Over 2000 youths came to the venue to co-ordinate the agitation. The movement was leaderless and apolitical. And none of us claim to be the leaders. At the beginning itself, we decided not to allow politicians and celebrities either to take centre stage or participate in it. Undue pressure from political parties was exerted to join the protest. Rumours and confusion spread to divide the group and dissipate the mass movement. But those designs did not succeed,” said R.K.Jaleel, one of the coordinators who spearheaded the uprising.
As the agitation intensified, more youth joined as volunteers and the support cast also grew. Several private employees after availing leave, they reached the spot with their families to participate in the agitation.
The effort of police to convince the protesters failed to cut any ice. The protests went on, day and night. If someone left the venue, others took their place. The slogan “Vendum Vendum Jallikattu Vendum” (We need Jallikattu) reverberated among the protesters.
Their demand to the State government was to issue an ordinance to remove ‘bulls’ from the ‘list of performing animals’ as per the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal (PCA) Act and a permanent solution for jallikattu, by passing an Act to ensure the conduct jallikattu every year.
Support streamed in from various groups, including film actors, politicians, cricketers and other sportsmen, social activists, and authors. Actors Raghava Lawrence, Simbu, director V. Gowthaman, Ameer, RJ Balaji, Aari, Mansoor Ali Khan and G. V. Prakash Kumar took part in the protest. Even actor Vijay briefly joined the protest. From far off places, people took trains and buses to reach the sprawling venue to join the protest. The protesters slept overnight on the beach’s shores and temporary tents were erected. Many activists came forward with supplies of food, water packets, biscuits, tea and coffee. No one went hungry at the beach during the protest. They removed the garbage and cleaned up the area themselves. The groups were assigned work such as distribution of food, fruit and water and regulation of crowds and traffic.
The protest spread to other cities such Madurai, Coimbatore, Salem and Puducherry. Tamil youth from other states conducted demonstrations expressing solidarity with jallikattu protesters. It also triggered wide protests in foreign soils across the globe.
Only after the State government led by the then AIADMK Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam promulgated an ordinance allowing the conduct of jallikattu, did the agitating crowd decide to wind up. However, on 23 January, police began early morning forceful evictions as a few protesters wanted a ‘permanent law’ as opposed to an ordinance. That morning, police across Tamil Nadu clamped down on protesters after issuing a warning and giving sufficient time for all the students to leave. Those who remained bore the brunt of police force in the violence.
The agitation turned predictably violent. Some persons pelted stones on police personnel and sprayed chilli powder on them, spurring to police (as Commissioner S. George later said at a press meet) to allege that a fundamentalist group had infiltrated the peaceful crowd. In retaliation, huts were torched in the Ice House area, a mob set fire to the Ice House police station. The city witnessed unprecedented violence, clashes occurred in over 90 places, creating history. Public vehicles and property were damaged.
However, a small number of protesters continued their protest near the shore while the majority dispersed from the protesting venue. Former judge of the Madras High Court Justice D. Hariparanthaman and a host of others addressed the protesters in batches to convince them that the promulgation of an ordinance for jallikattu was indeed a tangible solution. The protesters dispersed, finally, only after a week.
The government then appointed the Justice(retired) S. Rajeswaran Commission of Inquiry to inquire into the causes and circumstances leading to the violence. The report was submitted to the then Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami in January 2020, but has not yet been made public.
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