Chennai: Thousands of people have camped at Chennai’s Marina beach since late January 17 to protest a ban on Jallikattu, a traditional bull-taming sport in Tamil Nadu, southern India..
Other parts of the state have also witnessed similar protests forcing chief minister O Panneerselvam to arrange an emergency meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 19. He plans to request the prime minister for a special order to allow Jallikattu.
The protests erupted after the Supreme Court of India on January 12 rejected a plea seeking to allow the controversial sport played during Pongal festival in Tamil Nadu.
A bench comprising justices Dipak Misra and R Banumathi told a group of lawyers, who requested for the verdict, that it is unfair to ask the bench to pass an order. The apex court, however, said that the draft of judgment has been prepared but it was not possible to deliver it before January 14 when Jallikattu was to be organized.
The court has in 2014 banned Jallikattu on grounds of animal cruelty. The order, however, didn’t go down well with Tamil Nadu political parties.
Last year, the apex court dismissed the plea of the state government seeking review of its 2014 judgment banning Jallikattu.
The court had also earlier declared the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act, 2009 as constitutionally void and said it violated Article 254(1) of the Constitution.
However, protesting students, techies, actors and politicians say Jallikattu is a symbol of Tamil pride and culture.
Meanwhile, the Madras High Court said on January 18 that it will not “interfere” with the protests.
The protesters at Marina Beach want the chief minister to speak to them and press the federal government to permit Jallikattu through an ordinance or executive order.
The protesters have also demanded a ban on animal rights organization People for Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA, which has lobbied for disallowing Jallikattu.
Meanwhile, the newly appointed leader of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (progressive party of Dravidians) that rules the state, said her party would take steps to ban PETA.
The protests have so far been peaceful. The police have tried to get the crowd to disperse, but to no avail, report agencies.
Tamil Nadu ministers Jayakumar and Ma Foi Pandiarajan met the protesters and assured them that the government agrees with them and will approach the federal government to seek an ordinance.
Animal rights activists say Jallikattu subjects bulls to torture and pain “You basically see a bull having its tail bitten, being stabbed with sickles, agitated, stuff rubbed into its eyes with 20 people jumping on it,” said advocate and animal rights activist, Rudra Krishna.
But the champions of Jallikattu say there is no cruelty to the animals. “Our people revere bulls, there is no cruelty,” said Tamil Nadu’s Education Minister Ma Foi Pandiarajan.
All political parties in the state support Jallikattu but accuse each other of not pushing enough to have the ban lifted.
Jallikattu or Manju virattu (taming of bull) is part of Pongal, Tamil Nadu’s harvest festival. During Jallikattu, a running bull is released into a crowd of people who try to grab its tail and ride it for as long as possible, until the bull stops.
The bulls are bred specifically by villagers for the event. The villages announce prizes to encourage the youth to participate. After the event, tamed bulls are used for domestic activities and agriculture and untamable bulls are used for breeding cows.
Jallikattu has been known to be practiced during the Tamil classical period (400-100 BC).
Animal activists and PETA India have protested the practice since 2004. Along with human injuries and fatalities, sometimes bulls themselves sustain injuries which people believe as bad omen for the village.