Fight over Jallikattu turns political

Protestors mount anger on Modi government

Venkat Raman

venkat@indiannewslink.co.nz

It began as a fight against the human right to conduct a two-thousand-year-old sport but soon became an agitation against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him and his government of having caused havoc with demonetisation and a host of other issues.

‘Jallikattu,’ a popular sport which involves taming of bulls at ‘special fights’ watched by thousands of people in various cities, towns and villages of Tamilnadu, became a national issue of debate, because it was banned.

New Zealand protests

Protests were held throughout Tamil Nadu and other parts of the world where people from Tamilnadu live. These continued even after the ban was lifted and the Tamil Nadu government issued an Ordinance that the ‘Taming of the Bull’ can be conducted as a ceremony.

Protest meetings, which were later described as ‘expression of solidarity by the people of Tamilnadu’ were held in Wellington and Auckland. The mood was one of exuberance and the ‘urge to be heard.’

Speakers at the meeting held in the Auckland Domain said that Tamilians should forget their differences on politics and other issues and come together to voice their support to upholding traditional and cultural values.

In Tamilnadu, Chief Minister O Panneerselvam promised protestors that the Ordinance, promulgated by Tamil Nadu Governor C Vidyasagar Rao on January 19, 2017 would take effect immediately and that the government would introduce a Bill in the State Assembly to reinstate Jallikattu as an approved sport. The crowds in most cities and villages did not appear appeased.

Traditional Sport

Jallikattu, held thereafter at a number of centres had enthusiastic support of people who ‘enjoy’ the sport but it lacked the purpose for which it came into being more than 2500 years ago.

Some historians place the origin of the ‘Game’ to at least 100 BC but it gained popularity under the reign of several popular kings of Tamilnadu to promote the spirit of competition between villages, determine the valour of contestants who were allowed no more than 30 seconds to hold the horns of the raging bull.

Each bull can be restrained only by one contestant and no foul methods were allowed. The bulls were treated with respect.

Following allegations that the animals were ill-treated and inappropriately prepared for the fight and that Jallikattu fanned unwanted inter-community rivalry, the Indian Supreme Court banned the game in January 2008 but revoked its own order a few days later allowing the game to be held under a new set of conditions and guidelines.

Among them was the ways and means of promoting safety of the participants.

The sport is usually held as a celebration of Pongal, the harvest season in Tamilnadu, occurring on January 14. It was not at least a week later this year that as protests became violent and destructive, that the federal government issued an Ordinance according permission, followed by the State government.

Differing views

This writer hails from Tamil Nadu and has watched Jallikattu held in many parts of the State. Indian Newslink have said that in recent years, this sport has acquired ‘nasty dimensions’ and that those preparing bulls for fights violated all rules of the game. Safety of the men participating in these events also became a cause for concern.

Media reports in India said that the Jallikattu issue has taken another course – to demonstrate the growing animosity against the Centre.

Writing on the website of The Wire India on January 23, 2017, R Ramasubramanian described the ‘growing ire of the agitators and their leaders against the media was ‘A noteworthy development.’

He quoted them as saying that the media coverage of anti-Modi protests was lukewarm.

Media apathy

Communist Party of India South Chennai District Secretary A Bakkiam said that

there was an unwritten understanding on the part of the media – especially the electronic media – to suppress and blackout as much as possible of the anti-Modi protests at the Marina.

“There is a huge difference between what one sees on the television and what is happening at the ground level. Repeatedly, media is focusing on ‘People for Ethical Treatment of Animals’ (PETA) because the organisation is just a soft target and constitutes just 10% of the total anger among the crowd. But over 90% of boiling anger is against Modi,” Mr Bakkiam said.

“When a protestor speaks to the camera on PETA she will be allowed. But when she starts speaking on Modi, she will be immediately pulled out by somebody and the concerned TV crew themselves are immediately discouraging her from continuing. I openly told this in a live TV talk show from the Marina beach and the anchor retaliated by asking how you can say that just because somebody was shouting against Modi there is a ground swell of anger against Modi. This is their understanding of the issue and what more I can say?”

Mr Subramanian also quoted A Marx, a writer and social activist as saying that activists and authors too criticised the media for this attitude.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy added his own fuel to the burning fire.

He described the protestors as ‘Porukis,’ meaning street urchins.

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