In This Jallikattu, The Bull Has Been Replaced By Politicians

For a sport that is played in less than 20 villages, Jallikattu is suddenly at the heart of a massive people¡¯s movement across the state of Tamil Nadu, and now spilling into Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Delhi.

BCCL

The origins of the movement and how it started are all a bit baffling, considering the ban was put in place nearly 3 years ago and for the most part, went completely unnoticed until now. Frustration has been growing ever since Pongal was designated a restricted holiday. The politics that ensued that lead to the center giving in to the states demand of making it a compulsory holiday set the tone for the movement early on. The controversy succeeded in shedding new light on the Jallikattu ban. No one could have predicted it would swell to the scale of the protests we see today.

Yet, the leaderless movement has grown in intensity and managed to stay completely peaceful.

BCCL

Though much has already been said of Jallikattu from experts and pseudo-experts alike. That it is a tradition dating back to 400 BC and perhaps one of the oldest living traditions in India is in itself a marvel. But for the last 2 decades, Jallikattu has been on the decline, largely restricted to Alanganallur in Madurai and a few pockets around Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Few if any of the protestors know anything about Jallikattu, leave alone seen one first hand.

Some of the demands of the protesters are shaky at best, such as calling for the ban of PETA, Coke, Pepsi and strangely Microsoft (WTF?). While I understand the anger against PETA for petitioning the court in the first place, the other targets are a random basket of well-known foreign companies. Ironically, Pepsi¡¯s CEO Indra Nooyi happens to be from Chennai and a well-known alumnus and patron of the Madras Christian College.

Microsoft too is now headed by Satya Nadella from Andhra Pradesh, the only other state that is known to conduct Jallikattu. But logic aside, I wouldn¡¯t take some of these demands too seriously. The protests are designed to drive a larger point home.

AFP

Though the basis of the protest is Jallikatu, the movement is really being driven by an undercurrent of anger against a failed political system that includes both the center and state governments. For years, politicians have been milking the Jallikattu ban to stir up passions and it¡¯s never been restricted to just Jallikattu. State politics have exploited the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka, the treatment of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy and the notion that the central government and national media were blind to issues concerning the Tamil people. The issues are all genuine, but the will to tackle them by the political establishment are questionable at best.

The fact that it took 3 days for the National media to cover the protests on Jallikattu, reminiscent of the inertia shown by the media during the floods in Chennai in 2016, is in itself a testament to their anger at the status quo.

AFP

Local media, all largely owned by various political parties, have fared no better. Offering no balance in coverage, and merely representing the views of their political masters. The once passive people of Tamil Nadu have finally had enough.

The protests themselves have been a powerful display of Tamil pride. Civic sensitivity and public order are usually the first casualties of any protest on this scale. But much to the shock of the national media, there were no stories of molestation to sensationalize or outbreaks of violence and the customary lathi charge. There were no breakouts of violence. The police at one point had turned off all street lights to discourage people from coming to the venue.

Despite the police showing complete disregard for the safety of women, the protestors made it a point to ensure that the women among them were given security. Phone torch lights were used to illuminate the roads. They further organized themselves into teams of volunteers dedicated to ensuring the smooth passage of traffic, especially ambulances.

Volunteers created a system to deal with people suffering from heat exhaustion, fatigue, and other health ailments. They¡¯ve organized garbage pickups and conducted clean-up drives at regular intervals. Food was in abundance for those who needed it. The level of organization in what seems to be a largely homogenous crowd has been a spectacular display of democracy and civic uprisings. Gandhi would have been proud!

AFP

In the same breath, the protesters had denounced attempts to hijack their movement. Case in point, the DMK was slammed for attempting to disrupt commuter rail traffic at Mambalam station. As one protester put it, it was an act of cowardice, as politicians across party lines were too afraid to address the swelling crowds at Marina beach, lest they be chased back into their VVIP convoys.

The opposition parties resorted to conducting their own protests from a safe distance while attempting to look like they were at the forefront of the movement.

This is not just a movement to bring back Jallikattu, this is a movement against the establishment, against the culture of freebies and vote buying and a system of corruption that has eroded not just Tamil pride, but the collective pride and conscience of India.