Modi Refuses To Revive Jallikattu As It Was Banned By Supreme Court 

New Delhi: Even as the agitation in support of Jallikattu snowballs into an enthic uprise of Tamil Nadu, the Centre is reported to have assured the visiting chief minister O. Panneerselvam all help to over come the problem, but refused to directly intervene by promulgating an ordinance to allow the bull-taming ritual on Thursday.

With the public gathering, with a major portion of it being students, swelling to thousands and then over a lakh on the third day on Thursday, tensions erupted in Chennai and all over the state. The Chief Minister Panneerselvam met the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the early hours and urged him to promulgate an ordinance lifting all restrictions over the ritual in view of the ban imposed by the Supreme Court. The PM is said to have assured him that all help will be extended to see that the issue was resolved amicably, but as the matter was pending in court, he expressed his helplessness to intervene directly.

Meanwhile, the gathering of students and general public at Marina beach was growing in size with colleges, universities, film industry and other sections of the society joining the protest on Thursday. Kollywood shut down the shooting of all movies and some actors, prominent among them being Raghava Lawrence, participated in the agitation. However, the protesters are not allowing any politician to join them. The DMK working president MK Stalin was asked to leave the place on Wednesday.

What began as a gathering of about 50 people at Chennai's famous Marina beach on Tuesday swelled to thousands and then over a lakh by early Thursday, with people pouring in in response to appeals on social media.

The protesters, mostly young students and professionals, want the Supreme Court ban on Jallikattu lifted and also want animal rights organisation PETA, which has lobbied against the ancient sport, banished from the state. They say their fight is for their culture, for Tamil pride and reject the allegation that Jallikattu is cruel to the bulls.

The spontaneous protest, which has resonated across the world, has been completely peaceful, but the police used what they called a "mild lathicharge" early this morning when protesters refused to move from a portion of the beach. As many schools and colleges are closed in Chennai today the number of students at Marina Beach is expected to go up.