Violence broke out on the streets of Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu even as the State government, bowing to public pressure, convened a special session of the Assembly to pass a law allowing Jallikattu to be conducted.

The week-long, peaceful protest by thousands of youngsters, who had gathered on the Marina Beach demanding the lifting of the Supreme Court ban on Jallikattu, turned sour as the protesters took to the streets. They claimed the police were forcing them to move out from the beach area.

Even as the Tamil Nadu Assembly started its session with the customary Governor’s address in the morning, life in the city was halted in its tracks as the demonstrators on the beach shifted to the streets of Triplicane, a residential and commercial hub adjacent to the Marina beach.

Masked youngsters armed with petrol bombs and brick bats gathered on the narrow lanes and bylanes of Triplicane. Two-wheelers and vehicles parked on the roads were burnt, and a police station in the area was attacked with over a dozen vehicles parked outside reduced to cinders. The police, in riot gear, resorted to a lathi charge to clear the streets. Similar violence broke out in parts of south Tamil Nadu.

Unpleasant jolt For Chennai, a city that takes pride in its normally peaceful approach to life, it was an unpleasant jolt. Shops and business establishments in the heart of the city downed shutters early.

The commercial business district on Anna Salai and areas adjacent to Triplicane were shut throughout the day. Businesses elsewhere in the city, including the IT corridor to the south, closed early, as also schools and colleges. Commuters were stuck in gridlocked traffic for hours.

When the Assembly reconvened in the evening, Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, introduced the “Bill to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, so as to preserve the cultural heritage of the State of Tamil Nadu and to ensure the survival and well being of the native breeds of bulls.”

The law, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act 2017, comes into force replacing the Ordinance to the same effect promulgated on Saturday.

Introducing the Bill, the Chief Minister explained that the Act clears all hurdles to the conduct of traditional Jallikattu in the State. As of January 21, 2017, people anywhere in the State are free to organise the event whenever they wish to.

Legal procedures have been followed with the State government taking clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and getting the assent of President Pranab Mukherjee. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also assured the Centre’s support to Tamil Nadu’s efforts to conduct Jallikattu, Panneerselvam said.

Protesters dispersed After the hour-long session of the Assembly concluded around 6 pm, protesters on the beach dispersed.

A spate of events starting with the floods in December 2015 has affected normal life in Chennai. The floods were followed by the hospitalisation and subsequent death of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in December 2016.

This was followed by Cyclone Vardah, which threw normal life out of gear for more than a fortnight. Then followed the agitation against the Jallikattu ban, even as Chennai and Tamil Nadu are fighting a severe water crisis.

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