The Tamil Nadu government ordinance to allow the holding of Jallikattu, and the act of the State Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, to personally be present at the event at Alanganallur in Madurai, supervising the arrangements, and the Union Government’s assent to the State ordinance, raise a pertinent question of law – is there a rule of law in the State and at the Centre?
One is not going into the merits of whether Jallikattu should be held or not, but an attempt to look into the law and the Constitutional principles. The stay order of the Supreme Court both against holding Jallikattu, and also against the notification of the Union Government dated January 7, 2016, exempting Jallikattu bulls from the ban, continues to be in force! The Supreme Court has not vacated the stay. On the other hand, even last week, the Supreme Court refused to hear petitions seeking to expedite the judgment of the SC on a clutch of petitions relating to Jallikattu, though Jallikattu is normally held at the time of Pongal (January 14). This being the case, the State Government has no right to allow or hold the Jallikattu event on January 22, 2017. The State ordinance promulgated on January 21 (with the assent of the Centre and the President) cannot supersede a Supreme Court decision already in force. A State legislation or even a Central legislation cannot attempt to bypass or overrule the Supreme Court decision.
That both the State and the Centre have embarked on this legal exercise to flout, overcome and bypass the Supreme Court, amounts to legal misadventure, brazenness and a kind of legal tampering beyond the provisions of settled law, point out some legal experts who prefer to be anonymous. A more correct course would have been to place the draft of the ordinance before the Supreme Court for approval. If it had the approval of the SC, that might be close to the permanent solution that the protestors seek. On the other hand, the surreptitious manner in which the ordinance has been brought about (its contents have not been divulged) on Saturday and Sunday when the courts do not work, could raise doubts about fresh legal issues and legal challenges. The Union ministries concerned could also have tried to obtain the approval of animal welfare organisations which had moved the SC in the past. Or at least request them not to challenge the ordinance in the SC.
The 2017 TN ordinance is not new. It is, in fact, a case of old wine in old bottle. The DMK government initiated a Jallikattu Regulation Act to allow the event with some restrictions, with a view to overcoming issues like cruelty to the animals but this was trashed by the Supreme Court. In 2011 too, the SC came down on the Jallikattu event and in 2014 again accorded a stay when the bulls were included in the list of animals banned from taking part in such events.
A piquant situation has now been created where the TN Government, which till last week, prevented the Jallikattu events across the State, and barred the Jallikattu organizers from holding the events, is now hell bent on conducting the Jallikattu from January 22 onwards, with the CM and Ministers themselves participating or organizing the events! The Jallikattu organizers are against holding the events now and do not want to participate in the programmes as they want what is called a “permanent solution”!
These organizers do not want to spare bulls for the events and are reportedly talking to similar organizations in other parts of the State, not to provide bulls or take part in the Sunday events!
It is thus a curious about-turn with the State wanting to hold the Jallikattu, against the wishes of the cattle-owners!
Thus, there is a serious question or rule of law here, both given the SC stay order, and given the objections of the Jallikattu organizers themselves, who seem to be reluctant bystanders now.
The Centre’s complicity on the whole issue is also dubious. Just last week, the Union ministers concerned said they would not comment or act on the demands for Jallikattu since the SC was seized of the matter, and any decision on its ordinance would be made only after the SC gave its judgment. However, in a volte face, the Union Government, asked the TN govt to issue an ordinance, and said it would immediately grant its approval and seek Presidential assent. What prompted this sudden about-turn? An agitation by some protestors in Madurai and in Chennai? Have political considerations bypassed questions of law and legal propriety?
Already, there is talk that the BJP-ruled NDA government is making use of various issues to twist the AIADMK arm and force it into support for the NDA and to agree to an alliance between the BJP and the AIADMK for the next Lok Sabha elections. The suggestions or Central pressure for this alliance were rejected by late chief minister and AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa, who spurned offers of an alliance with the BJP after the 2004 debacle. In the absence of Jayalalithaa, the BJP now senses an opportunity to propel the AIADMK into a formal alliance. To begin with, the AIADMK would be asked to join the NDA. A couple of ministerial berths could be thrown in. After all, the AIADMK has 49 MPs.
The ruling AIADMK is therefore appearing to heed the advice of senior BJP ministers, while not formally joining the NDA or giving a categorical assurance of an alliance. Cornered on various issues in the State, including ongoing investigation by the Centre’s investigative agencies, the AIADMK doesn’t want to confront the Centre at this stage. Therefore, we see the BJP and AIADMK working in tandem to produce this ordinance.
However, the organizers of the Marina protests do not want the AIADMK or BJP to take credit for the holding of Jallikattu events or the ordinance. They want a permanent solution, which has to be on the lines of a Union Government amendment to the parent Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, removing the bulls from the list of prohibited animals, and enabling the holding of Jallikattu in future without any restrictions or legal hurdles. The agitation will continue despite the State Government’s attempts to take up the amendment to replace the ordinance by January 24 itself. The organizers believe that the ordinance, promulgated on a Saturday and the holding of Jallikattu on Sunday, would only allow a temporary relief, as the ordinance could be challenged in the Supreme Court and there was a possibility of a stay order or an adverse verdict next week. The demand for a Central legislation, enacted by Parliament, could alone be a permanent solution, they feel, but this is a time-consuming and arduous exercise. Will the agitation continue till then?
It is strange that some believe that the Marina agitation is leaderless, and driven by the people. The inspiration behind the protests is clearly the same force that networked on the floods situation in 2015 and the Vardah cyclone relief operations. Groups like the Arappor Iyakkam were active then and are active again using the same network, using the social media. Having tasted success during these two natural calamities, having created a network of students and IT professionals, they have embarked on a fresh mission for a wider reach using the Jallikattu impasse, invoking issues like Tamil pride and culture, to rouse passions. The ultra-left wing radicals are clearly calling the shots here, establishing a leadership like the AAP movement in Delhi and the Telangana protests, to ultimately take over power, bypassing established parties.
The decision to keep away from politicians and film stars is a clear pointer that they wish to take over political space, hitherto dominated by the main parties. They have a band of dedicated volunteers numbering over 5,000 and which they would have now increased to 10,000. They have other issues on their agenda which would unfold in the days to come.
However, it should not be forgotten that it has been easy for them to assemble and mobilize crowds at the Marina and other protest points as the State Government had allowed them to. In the normal case, protestors on the Marina or on the roads would be dispersed or arrested. After a point, the AIADMK clearly allowed the protests, so as to put pressure on the Centre and the courts to allow the Jallikattu events. The AIADMK government has been keen to allow the Jallikattu events to prevent any political attacks on its new dispensation.
The situation would be different if the protestors call for similar agitations on other issues as the might of the Government machinery would prevent such gatherings through ban orders, arrests, use of force and so on. The AIADMK would not like to concede political space to anyone or any group. The AIADMK, as would other parties, like to make selective use of this network for individual political gains, and thus the movement would face attempts to break it from within. It would have to guard against individual ambitions and greed, which marked the downfall of students’ movements in other parts of India like in the case of AASU in Assam.
The cosy bonhomie among the police forces and the groups of volunteers on the Marina and in other places, could lead to a crackdown post-Jallkattu events on January 22, once the State government believes the situation would be defused with the holding of the Jallikattu events in several parts of the State.
Meanwhile, TN chief minister and his ministerial colleagues this week will be functioning not like the Jayalalithaa Peravai but as the Jallikattu Peravai! BJP leaders will claim credit for an ordinance that has bypassed and overruled the Supreme Court orders. What a turn of events from last week! In that sense, the Jallikattu events from Sunday would be seen to be stage-managed or State-managed!
