JallikattuNew Symbol of Tamil Angst

In mid-January 2017, The Tamil Nadu witnessed mass protests throughout the state, demanding the restoration of the martial bull-taming sport of Jallikattu, a cultural tradition, banned for several years by the Supreme Court of India. For the first time since the anti-Hindi agitation of the nineteen sixties, southern Tamil Nadu witnessed a similar kind of public frenzy of peaceful consolidation as never before. But with a singular difference. . . Unlike the anti-Hindi agitation in the state or any other popular protest elsewhere in the country post-Independence, there was no readily identifiable organiser or leaders for the restore Jallikattu protests. It was not just about the sport alone, but more about what the Tamil people felt was an increasing and deliberate alienation of their interests--by the centre, the neighbouring states, their own Tamil Nadu government and polity--with adequate judicial attestation. This book analyses the issues and causes of such alienation, starting with how an inadequate understanding of the cultural significance and contemporary relevance of Jallikattu led to a constitutional impasse. But it goes beyond it, too, defining the Tamil angst In black and white.