Now Pongal will be complete for people of Tamil Nadu. The decision of the Centre to allow ‘Jallikattu’ has brought much joy. Not only people who took part in the sport, even those who enjoyed watching it, celebrated by bursting crackers and distributing sweets.

The celebrations were evident in Coimbatore too as animal lovers and Rekla race lovers in the district welcomed the verdict with joy.

Thirumugham Sivaperumal, President of Coimbatore Rekla Club, said that the verdict would also enable conduct of rekla races in the district, which is one of the famous sports in the city.

“We were unable to conduct Rekla race last year as bulls are involved in it too. But this time around we can and we would be making the necessary arrangements to conduct the races,” he said.

Welcoming the Centre’s decision, S. Balakumar an animal rights activist from Coimbatore, said that there should be no time limit and the respective district administration should allow all the bulls to participate in both Jallikattu and Rekla races in all districts.

Pointing out that he had been educating people and spreading awareness about Jallikattu, Balakumar said that this had helped get good support from the people of the State.

“The Central Government should make sure that the decision stays and no NGOs should intervene with the decision,” he added.

Balakumar also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa for supporting the cause.

“We also thank all the political parties that supported Jallikattu,” he said.