Permission To Jallikattu Ordinance Will Open The Floodgates For Similar Sports In Other States

The Tamil Nadu Assembly had on Saturday unanimously passed the ordinance to legalise jallikattu, bypassing the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 under which it was banned.

BCCL

With the ban lifted, in no time the sport was back on track across the state. But the unprecedented move have sent reverberations beyond the state's boundaries. Across a number of states similar sports involving cattle were banned along with jallikattu in 2014.

But now after Tamil Nadu took the ordinance route, in other states too demands have been raised to follow suit.

One of the first demands came from Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. The party has urged the state government to bring an ordinance to legalise the bullock cart racing in the state which was also banned in 2014.

BCCL

"The CM should take the initiative and talk to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and request the race restarts in Maharashtra," Sena MP from Shirur, Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil said.

Another state where the ordinance demand has come up is Karnataka, to revoke its ban on the traditional kambala (buffalo race). The demand has got support from both ruling Congress and opposition BJP.

BCCL

Kambala, like jallikattu, was banned last year after animal rights group PETA approached the Karnataka HC, citing animal cruelty in bull taming and buffalo racing.

In neighbouring Kerala, too it is likely to come up soon. Two different sports, Kalapoottu and Maramadi, both involving racing bulls in the state were banned along with Jallikattu.

BCCL

People in Assam have already demand they be allowed to hold the centuries-old buffalo and bulbul fights, which are part of the State¡¯s harvest festival Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu. Such animal and bird fights were not held officially for the past two years.

AFP

Buffalo fights used to be organized in a grand manner at Ahatguri in central Assam¡¯s Morigaon and Sivasagar in eastern Assam while bulbul fights used to be held at Hajo, about 30 kms south of Guwahati, at the famous Hayagriva-Madhava temple.

Same is the case with cock fights in Andhra Pradesh. sport associated with the harvest festival in January is cock-fighting that takes place in the rural swathes of Andhra Pradesh. These cock fights often result in the death of the warrior birds.

BCCL

The sport commonly involves massive betting, and with such huge money at stake, bird owners leave no stones unturned in making their roosters more ferocious. From feeding the birds a special diet of kheema and eggs, to injecting them with muscle hormones, the fighter cocks are prepared to sustain bloody injuries. To make the fights even more ferocious, villagers attach sharp blades and knives to the birds' limbs to show blood in the fight.