Banning Jallikattu was unfortunate: Muralidhar Rao

BJP General Secretary Muralidhar Rao today said the order passed by the Supreme Court banning Jallikattu was "unfortunate to say the least".
In a statement, he said the deep emotional connect that people have with the sport as well as the scientific reasoning behind it were "overlooked".
He said Jallikattu never had violence at its core adding that the actual sport involves only hugging the hump of bull for 60 seconds and the participants make sure the animals are not harmed in any way.
"It is only recently that certain miscreants have distorted the age-old sport for their vested interests. The goal should be to keep a check on such malpractices and not to bring about a blanket ban on the entire sport," he said.

He said the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government has always understood the deep sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu and supported Jallikattu.
In the Tamil Nadu Assembly election manifesto, the party had promised to bring back the sport, he said.
"The stand of convenience taken now by political parties like DMK and Congress who pulled all stops to bring the ban when in power is nothing but politics of duplicity. The time is to do everything possible to stop the direct assault on the state's culture," he said.