Life of a Storyteller
JALLIKATTU
The Jallikattu Festival
A traditional bull-taming sport organized in Tamil Nadu during the Festival of Pongal. Also known as Manju virattu, the word Jallikattu means a package of Coins, and it is derived from the term Cali Kaku (Coins) and Kattu (A package). The packaging of coins tied to the horns of the bulls as the prize of the money.
The sport is filled with young participants, and it involves naively reared studs. The challenge lies in taming the beast with bare hands. The participants try to grab the bull by its horns or tail and wrestle it into submission.
Why the Supreme Court Banned “Jallikattu”?
An Activist raised concerns about Jallikattu and said the Jallikattu amounted to cruelty to animals besides posing a threat to humans. Between 2010 and 2014, an estimated 1,100 people were injured, and 17 people were dead in the Jallikattu event.
In the past two decades, over 200 people have died from the Jallikattu sport. In 2014, the Supreme Court banned the game and said, “Use of bulls in such events severely harmed the animals and constituted an offense under the Prevention of Cruelty to the Animals Act.”
Why does Jallikattu become a controversy?
In the year 2011, during the rule of the UPA government, The Environment Ministry added bulls to its 1991 notification banning the training and exhibition of bears, monkeys, tigers, panthers, and dogs. The notification was challenged in the Supreme Court and upheld in 2014. Under the government of NDA, the ministry modified its earlier notification in 2016 and declared that the sport could continue despite the existing ban.
Subsequently, a stay order was issued by the court. The notification issued by the ministry became controversial as critics accused the government of appeasing of Tamil voters with an eye on the upcoming events. In 2017, the issue raised one again after the death of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. Her close assistant and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) general secretary, Sasikala Natarajan, was involved in a profound argument of words or war of talks with the current president of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) M.K. Stalin over Jallikattu. Stalin accused the AIADMK government of doing little to overturn the Jallikattu ban. Sasikala countered the accusation saying that it was under UPA rule, of which DMK was a key alliance partner, that the ban was first imposed.
The Ultimate Support:
With the pro-Jallikattu protest by students at Marina Beach and other spots throughout the state turning into a mass movement, everybody, including the film stars, is looking to ride the wave.
On 19 January, the film workers’ union, the directors’ association, producers’ council, and the powerful Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) canceled shoots across the Tamil Nadu.
All the top stars Like Kamal Hassan, Rajinikanth, Vijay, Suriya, Nayanthara, Ajith and Trisha, in addition to a hundred other artists and cricket R. Ashwin, are likely to participate in the protest of Jallikattu.
Oscar winning music director AR Rahman has announced that he will observe a day-long fast on Friday, along with members of the Nadigar Sangam - the South Indian Artistes Association - to express solidarity with people protesting against the ban on Jallikattu.
“I’m fasting tomorrow to support the spirit of Tamil Nadu,” Rahman posted on Twitter on Thursday.
Various artists of the Tamil film fraternity will participate in the fast in support of Jallikattu, the ancient and popular bull-taming sport. As it becomes breaking news about jallikattu in tamil nadu, people tweeted with images and Jallikattu Slogans.
