Congress Prince Rahul Gandhi had visited Madurai today and had attended Pongal celebrations and a Jallikattu event. It was a massive self-goal in itself as it was the Congress which had tried and tried, using every possible method to ban the Jallikattu festivities when it was in power. It was only after the Tamil Nadu government passed an ordinance with the express support of the Modi government that the sport got back its legal status in Tamil Nadu.
Rahul Gandhi’s ‘visits’ are always stereotypical like a Bollywood movie. As he was having the ‘Tamil’ experience tour, Congress’ state unit had done everything possible to give Rahul Gandhi a ‘Tamil’ experience. He was first seen eating rice with his hands, on banana leaf, sitting with a row of Tamil women who thankfully paid no attention to the Italian saheb trying to eat rice like Jhalmurhi.
Shri @RahulGandhi joins #Pongal celebrations in Thenpalanchi, Tamil Nadu #VanakkamRahulGandhi pic.twitter.com/5Awe0dfBas
— All India Mahila Congress (@MahilaCongress) January 14, 2021
Firangi lord finally said ‘ok’ to Jallikattu
After the Jallikattu viewing part was over, Rahul Gandhi addressed the media. As expected, the firangi lord gave his verdict about the brown people playing the brown people sport. Turns out, firangi saheb liked it, and he was even benevolent enough to say that he thinks it is ok if brown people play this sport, because he has come to realise that it is not as “barbaric” and “brutal” and all the other bad things that Congress leaders had called it. Firangi lord was also feeling kind, so he ‘allowed’ Tamils to celebrate their festival as they have been doing for centuries. How very kind and compassionate of him.
But that was not all. Firangi lord is so kind and good that his kindness knows no bounds. Rahul Gandhi not only said it is ok to play Jallikattu, he even admitted that he was wrongly told that bulls are harmed. He acknowledged that bulls are not harmed in Jallikattu.
Wait a minute. So Congress carried out its long campaign against Jallikattu without knowing or bothering to know that?
Rahul Gandhi has just admitted that the Congress government’s relentless campaign and efforts to get Jallikattu banned was just a glitch, a minor error that has been omitted and rectified by a Gandhi family scion’s kind verdict. Years of politics, attacks, bad-mouthing, slanders and shaming campaign against a Hindu tradition is just supposed to be forgotten now because Rahul baba has decided to change his mind and support it.
Here is what the Congress has done to get Jallikattu banned:
In 2011, the Ministry of Environment and Forest under the Congress-led UPA government had banned the use of bulls in the festivities. However, under the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act No 27 of 2009 the festival continued. In 2014, the Supreme Court of India then struck down the state’s law and banned Jallikattu. Since then, the people of Tamil Nadu have been fighting for their traditional event. Between 2014 and 2017, Jallikattu was held but it was deemed against the orders of the apex court.
Notably, in 2017, the Tamil Nadu government passed a bill with the support of the Prime Minister of India that exempted Jallikattu from Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (1960). First legal Jallikattu celebration was held on February 1, 2017, in Madurai district. Manmohan Singh, Shashi Tharoor and Jairam Ramesh are the Congress leaders who had repeatedly called Jallikattu ‘brutal’ and ‘barbaric’. Ramesh had later even criticised the BJP’s efforts to let the festivities continue. He had called it a ‘barbaric practice’ and had said the BJP was supporting some local leaders to appease them ahead of the elections.
But no issues, we are supposed to forget all that because firangi lord has just okayed it.
‘Suppressing Tamil spirit’ is the new ‘RTI and women empowerment’
Not just entertainment and a sudden bout of kindness, watching Jallikattu in Madurai today has also inspired Rahul baba to discover some new vocabulary. The new magic words are ‘suppressing the Tamil spirit’. In his media statement, Rahul Gandhi used the words ‘suppress’ and ‘Tamil spirit’ like five times in 1.5 minutes. For some of us, it was the unpleasant reminder for the (in)famous interview with Arnab Goswami before the 2014 elections, where for almost every question, Rahul baba’s reply was ‘RTI and women empowerment’.
But, thank God for small mercies. At least he has not tried to speak Tamil.
