Jallikattu ban: Villagers feel AIADMK didn’t do enough to protect the traditional sport

PALAMEDU ( MADURAI): Tamil traditional sport jallikattu made news early this year as it got banned a few hours before it was set to take place. Today, the villages — Palamedu, Alanganallur and Avaniapuram — where the sport has been traditionally held for hundreds of years are a sight of despair.
With 45 -50 villaes each these jallikattu towns have about 200 trained bulls in each and countless ‘veerans’ (those who tame bulls).There are year long kabaddi matches in these villages as it is believed the game prepares them for jallikattu.

There is palpable anger against the ADMK among the villagers here who feel “the party didn’t do enough to revive the sport” that has been banned for two years now, as compared to the DMK which conducted the sport religiously every year.

In May 2014, the Supreme Court had banned the practice, citing animal welfare issues. On 8 January, 2016 the BJP government in a seeming attempt to win the trust of the State for elections, passed an order effectively reversing the ban but on 14 January, 2016, animal rights organizations moved the SC which stayed the order and upheld its ban on the event, leading to protests all over Tamil Nadu Villagers says a bad omen has hit them since then, and the belt hasn’t received a drop of rain, despite the state getting flooded last year. Several pujais have been in the ‘vaadivaasal koil’ where the sport is held to oust evil spirits that are blocking the traditional sport.

Apart from Madurai, jallikattu is also held in villages around Pudukkottai, Tiruchy, Thanjavur and Dindigul. Last week, Jallikattu organisers and people from 20 villages in Dindugul announced their boycott of the upcoming polls in protest against the inability of political parties to conduct the event. P Karthikeyarajan, a dalit who heads the Palamedu town panchayat, says in January 2016 all preparations for jallikattu had already been done when the order on its stay was received.

He feels the AIADMK unlike the DMK which in a similar situation in 2008 had fought hard for the sport being conducted, did not do enough for the traditional sport.

“Jallikattu is one event where people across castes participate. It unifies the village in many ways,”Karthikeyarajan said. He added there was miscampaign against the sport being ‘brutal’ that was responsible for the ban.

“They say we sprinkle chilli powder in the bulls eyes which is not true, it is just kumkumam powder part of the ritual. Our bulls are named about our family gods - ayyanar, pandi, karuppan who in mythology guard our houses. These bulls are our gods. We won’t let them down,” he added.