Thanjavur: With the Supreme Court declining to lift the ban of the conduct of the traditional sport ‘Jallikattu’ (taming of bulls), the Tamil Desiya Periyakkam has decided to conduct the sport in the name of ‘Bull Festival’.

Justifying the conduct of the sport in the name of ‘bull festival’, the outfit’s president P Maniyarasan pointed out that the Apex Court has in its verdict said that there was no ban to adorn the bulls and conduct it as a spiritual event. Subsequently, it was decided in the Periyakkam’s executive meet that the bull festival will be conducted without any caste and religious discrimination as per Tamils’ tradition, Maniyarasan told reporters here today.

Maniyarasan said that the bull festival would be organised in Thanjavur, Tiruchy, Pudukottai, Madurai, Theni, Salem, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts as per Tamils’ tradition. He also appealed to all the Tamils across the State to conduct the bull festival as per the tradition of their forefathers.

Maniyarasan wanted the recruitment of candidates of Tamils to central government jobs through employment exchanges in Tamil Nadu instead of recruiting the candidates through national level competitive examinations. He alleged that the candidates belonging to other states get selected to central government jobs while Tamils were being ignored.

He urged the central government to recruit only the candidates who are the sons of the soil from Tamil Nadu for the central government jobs in Tamil Nadu. This practice is in vogue in Karnataka, he added.