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2017 pro-jallikattu protests
The 2017 pro-jallikattu protests, also known as the pro-jallikattu movement, were leaderless apolitical youth protests which took place in January 2017 in large groups in several locations across the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Some sporadic smaller protests also took place across India as well as overseas. The chief motivation of the protest was against the Supreme Court's order to ban jallikattu (occasionally also known as sallikattu, eru taluval and manju virattu), a traditional Tamil bull taming sport, which is held during Pongal, a harvest festival in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The sport is conducted annually on the second day of the Tamil month Thai. The sport was banned by the Supreme Court in a decision citing cruelty to animals based on a lawsuit filed by the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which asserted that it violates the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA).
The first large protests occurred on 8 January 2017, when several groups, organised largely via social media, conducted a protest at the Marina beach in Chennai to revoke the ban on jallikattu which was imposed in 2014. These groups also demanded that PETA be banned from India. The protests soon gained momentum and spread all over Tamil Nadu. After several days of protests, jallikattu was finally legalised locally on 23 January when the Government of Tamil Nadu passed a bill to amend the PCA Act. As the legalisation is not Indian federal law, but rather state law, there is concern from Indian legal experts that jallikattu could be banned once again by the Supreme Court.
The largely peaceful nature of the protests received praise from all over the country and inspired the legalisation movements of several other Indian states' traditional outlawed celebrations. Despite violence on 23 January, this perception continued after the Tamil Nadu Police reported that the violence was caused by "anti-social elements" co-opting the protest, and not the student protesters themselves.[vague] The movement has been described as a symbol for Tamil pride and has largely been compared to the anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu and dubbed by many as 'Thai Puratchi'.
Jallikattu is a traditional bull taming event wherein a berserk bull is released into a crowd, and the participants of the crowd individually attempt to grab and hold on to the bull's hump for a determined distance, a determined time, or with the goal of removing a packet of money tied to the bull's horns. The sport, which is considered to be 2500–10,000 years old, is usually held during Thai Pongal across several locations in Tamil Nadu, with the primary event being held in Alanganallur. During the event, injuries or even death often occur to participants. While bull breeders contend that the participating bulls are treated well, PETA asserts its investigators found that the bulls suffers cruel treatment, from having their tails twisted, being stabbed, punched and jumped on. India's Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCAA) outlaws animal cruelty, and sets up the punishment offenders can expect to receive. The Madras High Court was the first to rule that jallikattu was not allowable under the PCAA in 2006. However, traditional sports like jallikattu have since then always been allowed through various legal and extralegal means, the most recent of which is the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act No 27, passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and signed into law in 2009.
In January 2011, Hema Malini appealed to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoE) to ban Jallikatu, and it responded by issuing a notification that bulls may no longer be used as performing animals in India, adding it to a list which previously included only bears, monkeys, tigers, panthers and lions. Armed with this, in April 2011, PETA announced that it would challenge the 2009 Tamil Nadu law as unconstitutional, as it now conflicts with the Indian federal law. After three years in court, on 7 May 2014, PETA, represented by Raj Panjwani, along with the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), striking down the 2009 Tamil Nadu law. In defiance of the ban, citizens of Tamil Nadu attempted to carry out the tradition on 18 January 2015, but police arrested forty six people and allowed the animals to go free.
In preparation for the 2016 jallikattu season, the Centre reversed its earlier decision and on 7 January 2016 MoE once again removed bulls from the list of banned performing animals. Justices Dipak Misra and Rohinton Fali Nariman were highly critical of this reaction, and were quoted by The Hindu as stating jointly: "How can you negate our judgment banning jallikattu by coming up with the January 2016 notification allowing bulls to participate in the sport again? [...] We cannot import Roman gladiator-type sport here." The Supreme Court issued a stay order on 12 January 2016, effectively banning the sport just five days after the Centre unbanned it. With the police on their side this time, however, jallikattu went ahead anyway, and thousands gathered to watch bull races and the main sport.
In preparation for the 2017 season, once again multiple petitions were filed to try to get the Supreme Court to reconsider; and once again they were all denied, including a petition attempting to argue a religious freedom angle. The Supreme Court once again sparred with the Centre, who was trying to get it unbanned as it was a 5,000-year-old cultural tradition of the Tamil people, but the court responded simply "In 1899, ten thousand girls below 12 years of age were married. Should we allow it today because it was a tradition at that time?" and rejected the petition. For the 2017 season, political tension was high, perhaps sparking the massive protest: people blamed the AIADMK and BJP political parties for failing to reverse the ban during the last three years. Once again, citizens flouted the Supreme Court, and jallikattu went ahead despite its legal status. With an uncooperative judiciary, the other branches of government began work on a law which would override the court's decision: on 19 January 2017, prime minister of India Narendra Modi vowed to support Tamil Nadu but declined to give further details, claiming that he could not as the case was currently sub judice. In an interview, former Supreme Court justice Markandey Katju observed that laws can be changed even when the matter is in court as was done for the act that abolished zamindari in the 1950s when the Nehru government removed the right to property as a fundamental right.
Jallikattu is cited as one of the last available ways to promote and preserve the native livestock because the other uses of native breeds such as ploughing, breeding via mating and milk is on decline due to advancement in mechanization by tractors, improvement in artificial insemination and hybrid Jersey cows respectively. Native breed activists claim that Tamil Nadu had over one million Kangayam bulls in 1990 and that the population has fallen to 15,000 by the 2010s. Minor protests were initiated by cattle rights activists and farmers. Music videos, such as "Takkaru Takkaru" by Hiphop Tamizha, and on Facebook videos to talk about jallikattu and its benefits inspired the protestors. There were also claims that the indigenous cattle bulls are critically endangered in Tamil Nadu and banning jallikattu will have the adverse effect of wiping them out completely. According to pro-jallikattu activists, jallikattu is not just a sport that is deeply entrenched in Tamil culture, but it has also inadvertently served as a scientific method of breeding cattle.[clarification needed] This view is held among a majority of jallikattu supporters. The protest is aimed at revival of the native humped bull, called the zebu. The Tamil Nadu breed of zebu is unique to India and has several advantages compared to European varieties of cattle such as the Holstein cow. The native breeds are rich in the A2 variety of beta casein protein which aides easy digestion whereas milk from European Bos taurus contain the A1 variant of the beta casein protein which is related to allergies and some serious health conditions. The Holstein breeds found their way into India as a result of Operation Flood of late 1960s through cross breeding to increase the low milk yield of native breeds. As the Jersey cow can yield nine times the quantity of milk as a zebu in the same period, there is concern among protesters that without jallikattu providing an economic incentive for the breeding of zebu, the breed will become endangered and eventually extinct. PETA disputes the allegation that outlawing jallikattu would lead to a loss of the Tamil Nadu zebu, stating that the bulls can still be used as studs regardless of whether jallikattu is legal or not.
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2017 pro-jallikattu protests
The 2017 pro-jallikattu protests, also known as the pro-jallikattu movement, were leaderless apolitical youth protests which took place in January 2017 in large groups in several locations across the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Some sporadic smaller protests also took place across India as well as overseas. The chief motivation of the protest was against the Supreme Court's order to ban jallikattu (occasionally also known as sallikattu, eru taluval and manju virattu), a traditional Tamil bull taming sport, which is held during Pongal, a harvest festival in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The sport is conducted annually on the second day of the Tamil month Thai. The sport was banned by the Supreme Court in a decision citing cruelty to animals based on a lawsuit filed by the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which asserted that it violates the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCA).
The first large protests occurred on 8 January 2017, when several groups, organised largely via social media, conducted a protest at the Marina beach in Chennai to revoke the ban on jallikattu which was imposed in 2014. These groups also demanded that PETA be banned from India. The protests soon gained momentum and spread all over Tamil Nadu. After several days of protests, jallikattu was finally legalised locally on 23 January when the Government of Tamil Nadu passed a bill to amend the PCA Act. As the legalisation is not Indian federal law, but rather state law, there is concern from Indian legal experts that jallikattu could be banned once again by the Supreme Court.
The largely peaceful nature of the protests received praise from all over the country and inspired the legalisation movements of several other Indian states' traditional outlawed celebrations. Despite violence on 23 January, this perception continued after the Tamil Nadu Police reported that the violence was caused by "anti-social elements" co-opting the protest, and not the student protesters themselves.[vague] The movement has been described as a symbol for Tamil pride and has largely been compared to the anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu and dubbed by many as 'Thai Puratchi'.
Jallikattu is a traditional bull taming event wherein a berserk bull is released into a crowd, and the participants of the crowd individually attempt to grab and hold on to the bull's hump for a determined distance, a determined time, or with the goal of removing a packet of money tied to the bull's horns. The sport, which is considered to be 2500–10,000 years old, is usually held during Thai Pongal across several locations in Tamil Nadu, with the primary event being held in Alanganallur. During the event, injuries or even death often occur to participants. While bull breeders contend that the participating bulls are treated well, PETA asserts its investigators found that the bulls suffers cruel treatment, from having their tails twisted, being stabbed, punched and jumped on. India's Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCAA) outlaws animal cruelty, and sets up the punishment offenders can expect to receive. The Madras High Court was the first to rule that jallikattu was not allowable under the PCAA in 2006. However, traditional sports like jallikattu have since then always been allowed through various legal and extralegal means, the most recent of which is the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act No 27, passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and signed into law in 2009.
In January 2011, Hema Malini appealed to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoE) to ban Jallikatu, and it responded by issuing a notification that bulls may no longer be used as performing animals in India, adding it to a list which previously included only bears, monkeys, tigers, panthers and lions. Armed with this, in April 2011, PETA announced that it would challenge the 2009 Tamil Nadu law as unconstitutional, as it now conflicts with the Indian federal law. After three years in court, on 7 May 2014, PETA, represented by Raj Panjwani, along with the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), striking down the 2009 Tamil Nadu law. In defiance of the ban, citizens of Tamil Nadu attempted to carry out the tradition on 18 January 2015, but police arrested forty six people and allowed the animals to go free.
In preparation for the 2016 jallikattu season, the Centre reversed its earlier decision and on 7 January 2016 MoE once again removed bulls from the list of banned performing animals. Justices Dipak Misra and Rohinton Fali Nariman were highly critical of this reaction, and were quoted by The Hindu as stating jointly: "How can you negate our judgment banning jallikattu by coming up with the January 2016 notification allowing bulls to participate in the sport again? [...] We cannot import Roman gladiator-type sport here." The Supreme Court issued a stay order on 12 January 2016, effectively banning the sport just five days after the Centre unbanned it. With the police on their side this time, however, jallikattu went ahead anyway, and thousands gathered to watch bull races and the main sport.
In preparation for the 2017 season, once again multiple petitions were filed to try to get the Supreme Court to reconsider; and once again they were all denied, including a petition attempting to argue a religious freedom angle. The Supreme Court once again sparred with the Centre, who was trying to get it unbanned as it was a 5,000-year-old cultural tradition of the Tamil people, but the court responded simply "In 1899, ten thousand girls below 12 years of age were married. Should we allow it today because it was a tradition at that time?" and rejected the petition. For the 2017 season, political tension was high, perhaps sparking the massive protest: people blamed the AIADMK and BJP political parties for failing to reverse the ban during the last three years. Once again, citizens flouted the Supreme Court, and jallikattu went ahead despite its legal status. With an uncooperative judiciary, the other branches of government began work on a law which would override the court's decision: on 19 January 2017, prime minister of India Narendra Modi vowed to support Tamil Nadu but declined to give further details, claiming that he could not as the case was currently sub judice. In an interview, former Supreme Court justice Markandey Katju observed that laws can be changed even when the matter is in court as was done for the act that abolished zamindari in the 1950s when the Nehru government removed the right to property as a fundamental right.
Jallikattu is cited as one of the last available ways to promote and preserve the native livestock because the other uses of native breeds such as ploughing, breeding via mating and milk is on decline due to advancement in mechanization by tractors, improvement in artificial insemination and hybrid Jersey cows respectively. Native breed activists claim that Tamil Nadu had over one million Kangayam bulls in 1990 and that the population has fallen to 15,000 by the 2010s. Minor protests were initiated by cattle rights activists and farmers. Music videos, such as "Takkaru Takkaru" by Hiphop Tamizha, and on Facebook videos to talk about jallikattu and its benefits inspired the protestors. There were also claims that the indigenous cattle bulls are critically endangered in Tamil Nadu and banning jallikattu will have the adverse effect of wiping them out completely. According to pro-jallikattu activists, jallikattu is not just a sport that is deeply entrenched in Tamil culture, but it has also inadvertently served as a scientific method of breeding cattle.[clarification needed] This view is held among a majority of jallikattu supporters. The protest is aimed at revival of the native humped bull, called the zebu. The Tamil Nadu breed of zebu is unique to India and has several advantages compared to European varieties of cattle such as the Holstein cow. The native breeds are rich in the A2 variety of beta casein protein which aides easy digestion whereas milk from European Bos taurus contain the A1 variant of the beta casein protein which is related to allergies and some serious health conditions. The Holstein breeds found their way into India as a result of Operation Flood of late 1960s through cross breeding to increase the low milk yield of native breeds. As the Jersey cow can yield nine times the quantity of milk as a zebu in the same period, there is concern among protesters that without jallikattu providing an economic incentive for the breeding of zebu, the breed will become endangered and eventually extinct. PETA disputes the allegation that outlawing jallikattu would lead to a loss of the Tamil Nadu zebu, stating that the bulls can still be used as studs regardless of whether jallikattu is legal or not.
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