Congress v/s Congress: Party Gen Secy Narayanasamy slams Jairam Ramesh for his comments against Jallikattu

AICC General Secretary V Narayanasamy on Sunday took strong exception to the reported comments made by former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh against bull taming sport 'jallikattu'.

He said in a statement in Pondicherry that Ramesh's comments "are not acceptable and Ramesh had made the comments without knowing the Tamil tradition and his comments might be his personal views on the sport of Tamils."

Narayanasamy, a former Union Minister, said all the political parties in the state had extended unanimous support for the revival of the traditional sport of Tamils in keeping with their culture.

"But Jairam Ramesh had without knowing the Tamil tradition expressed certain views against the revival of the sport and these comments are not at all acceptable," he said, adding, what Ramesh had said "is not the stand of the Congress party."

Talking to reporters in Bhubaneswar on Saturday, Ramesh had reportedly described jallikattu as a 'barbaric practice.' Narayanasamy objected to the move of some political parties to derive political mileage on jallikattu issue, saying "there should be no room for any politicisation of the revival of the sport which is an ancient art and which should be supported without reservation by all."

On January 8, the Centre had lifted the ban on Jallikattu, a bull taming sport played in Tamil Nadu as part of Pongal festival celebrations on Mattu Pongal day.

The decision to allow Jallikattu days before the traditional harvest festival begins, and also bullock cart races in other parts of the country came through a government notification despite strong objections by animal rights groups.