After DMK working president M K Stalin attacked the ruling party on the "Jallikattu" issue, AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala today accused the former of burying "truths" and asserted that falsehood cannot hold water.
In her first ever political salvo after taking over as the ruling party chief, she squarely blamed the main opposition and its ally Congress on the issue.
"It is not a responsible act to divert people by burying the fact that a Centre's notification (2011) had led to a situation of the sport getting banned (by Supreme Court)," she said in a statement here.
She asked Stalin not to try to "conceal truths and besmirch the reputation of Amma" by brushing off the late leader's efforts.
Sasikala claimed that the then UPA regime in which DMK was a constituent had issued a notification in 2011 barring use of bulls as performing animals.
Stalin had "swept under the carpet" the serious efforts of late Jayalalithaa in the Jallikattu issue and has been "talking stuff far from truth," the AIADMK chief who took over the reins of party on December 29 said.
The DMK leader has been maintaining that "breach of conditions" imposed by the Supreme Court led to the sport getting banned in 2014 though it had faced legal hurdles during the DMK tenure too.
"It may have been the trick of the past generations to repeat a lie and try to project it as truth. In this e-age, false propaganda cannot hold water for a long time," she said.
Stating that Jallikattu issue had been in the Courts since 2006, which culminated in the Apex court banning it in 2014, she recalled the efforts initiated by Jayalalithaa to get it revoked including a review petition by the state government.
The former Chief Minister had also had given a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take steps to get the ban lifted through avenues like an ordinance or a comprehensive legislation.
It may be recalled that the review petition was dismissed by the Apex Court in December last, and a matter related to the Centre's 2016 notification allowing Jallikattu has been reserved for final disposal.
Sasikala said that though the Centre had issued a notification in January last, exempting use of bulls only during Jallikattu or other similar traditional events, it, however, did not interfere with bulls being barred as "performing animals."
In view of such factors, the Court had declined to lift the ban in last January, she added.
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