Uniting for the bulls

The promulgation of the ordinance by TN Governor means that the state government can permit jallikattu, for now. Amidst this news, which has been received with mixed response among the supporters, over the past few days of the protests, we also witnessed pictures from NRIs, predominantly Tamils, expressing solidarity. When we got in touch with a few of them from USA, Canada, Norway, Sri Lanka and other countries, they explained what jallikattu means to them and how this protest is also helping NRI children know more about Tamil culture. Apart from this, it was surprising to note that a few NRIs were even helping the protesters in Tamil Nadu in any way they were able to.
Prince Kennett from Melbourne, Australia, organised a protest outside the Victorian Parliament in the city along with 500 other people. Following several speeches on the importance of jallikattu, a silent sit-in was also held. “For us, this is more than just pride. It has scientific and agricultural importance, and it is a cause worth fighting for. Through our known network of friends and through social media, we had almost 500 people at the protest,” Prince says. He has also been a part of Team Hope, a group in Melbourne, that has been helping the protesters in Marina get an ambulance at their disposal and to provide volunteers with high visibility jackets.

The national spokesperson of Canadian Tamil Congress, David Poopalapillai, expressed his happiness on how youngsters came together to protect a cultural sporting event. “After seeing the news of the protest, the Canadian Tamils here decided to express their support to youngsters who are spearheading the campaign. We are standing shoulder to shoulder with our Tamil brethren on this issue. We had rallies and other campaigns in all the Tamil-related events that happened in the past week. We are so happy how peaceful and orderly these protests in Marina beach and in other parts of the state were. Tamil Nadu has shown a great example to India and to the world on how peacefully a demand can be put in front of the authorities,” he muses.

Shruti Suriakumar, a stylist based in Singapore, was part of the protest held at the Hong Lim Park in Singapore on Friday. “I was shocked to see the number of people who thronged the park. Many joined us with placards with different slogans. The locals also joined us.”

Kishori Karthik, a software engineer from San Antonio, Texas, USA, says, “We have multiple WhatsApp groups for passing jallikattu messages/awareness to our office friends and their family in San Antonio. Many of our office clients (Americans) were aware of this fight and encouraged us to voice out our concerns and be strong. San Antonio Tamil Sangam and the all state cricket team have good connection here, which helped to communicate to others to join hands. Since people were feeling bad that they couldn’t be part of the noble fight which is happening in India, they were all here at our gathering. We took group pictures with lots of hoardings and posters.”         

Kishori adds, “We are planning to raise our voices at our city’s San Antonio Tamil Sangam Pongal function, which is due on January 28th. More than 300 people are expected to join us. This protest helps us educate our US-born Indian kids. They have questions and we explain as much as we can, and play YouTube videos to show jallikattu. They are equally happy and excited to be a part of it and wish to see the sport on our next visit to India.”

Michael Sathis, a Sri Lankan Tamil, was inspired by the youth of Tamil Nadu to participate in the protest at Colombo yesterday. “Even though jallikattu has no relevance to us Sri Lankans, it was just surreal to see them protest for more than four days! I took part in the protest here just to support their spirit.” A protest with about 350 participants was held at the Colombo Galle Face. “There were a few foreign tourists watching our protests, and when we explained the purpose, they too joined us,” says Michael.

There has been a considerable solidarity being shown in several countries in
Europe. In fact, in Oslo, a group from the local Tamil community, visited the Indian embassy and handed over a letter to show their support. A Tamil resident in Oslo, who did not want to be named, says — “We wanted to show our support in whatever way we could and hence a group of Tamil people visited the embassy.”