“Bullfighting is the only art in which the artist is in danger of death and in which the degree of brilliance in the performance is left to the fighter’s honor,” wrote Ernest Hemingway in his best-selling Death in the Afternoon, a non-fiction account of the ceremony and traditions of Spanish bullfighting.
‘Jallikattu’, the harvest festival-related ‘sport’ of southern Tamil Nadu, is not exactly bullfighting - it is more like the Running of the Bulls of Pamplona, again in Spain. (Please note the single inverted quotes for the word sport because the jury is still out whether to call it so or not.) Nevertheless, something that has stood the test of time for close to 1,500 years must have had qualities that endeared it to large sections of people, however emotional and irrational they may have been. If it had not been sports per se, it must have had in it some art that must have appealed to these people.
And yes, those who ventured to “embrace” the bull by actually snatching the money or gold coin tied to its horns were certainly putting their lives in danger. Hemingway, had he heard of ‘Jallikattu’, could have extended the same recognition that he gave to bullfighting.
For all one can say, ‘Jallikattu’ must have started all those years ago as a masculine sport where well-fed bulls were tamed by hardy young bachelors in order to win the hearts of the spectators, more importantly of the young maidens among the crowd. There indeed was a ‘love angle’ to the whole thing and, therefore the animals were also treated with love and care. ‘Jallikattu’ coincides with the Tamil celebration of ‘Mattu Pongal’ which is actually a recognition of the role of the cattle/bull in agriculture.
But as with most things in a liberalised, rupee-chasing India, the love angle got consumed by greed and anything was game as long as the prize money was good. And more than the prize money ‘Jallikattu’ deteriorated into a gambling festival. The animal, once the object of reverence, became a mere tool that could be manipulated any which way the owner/organiser wanted. The faster it ran and the fiercer it charged the higher the thrill for the onlookers and, as a natural corollary, the higher the stakes on the betting table.
So new ways had to be fashioned to get the bull angry and reckless. Mere prodding and pushing were passé. How about a bite on its tail? Or a poke with a knife at its most vulnerable parts? May be some red chilli powder thrown in its eyes and a bottle of high potency alcohol force-fed a half hour before it is let loose. Even an electric shock at the nick of the moment could do it. The bulls were subjected to all these and more in blind, drunken frenzy as ‘Jallikattu’ lost all its traditional and cultural moorings and degenerated into a gruesome spectacle of cruelty.
“Sadism and perversity is writ large in the actions of the organisers of ‘Jallikattu’ and the event is meant not for the well-being of the animal, but for the pleasure and enjoyment of human beings...” the Supreme Court observed on May 7, 2014 while endorsing the 2011decision of the Congress-led government of prime minister Manmohan Singh to ban what had become a ‘blood sport’.
But five years is a long time in politics.
How many Indian politicians had read or even heard of Hemingway is a matter of conjecture but all of a sudden cutting across party lines they seem to have embraced the American author’s love and respect for this ‘blood sport’. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government last week notified that the ban on ‘Jallikattu’ has been lifted “keeping in mind the historical, cultural and religious significance of the event” and not a single political party, not even those that have a visceral hatred for Modi, objected.
Animal rights activists have appealed to the Supreme Court which yesterday banned ‘Jallikattu’, but never underestimate the politicians to find a way out.
“What we have allowed is with safeguards ensuring that there is no cruelty to animals,” said Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar who had piloted the move to lift the ban. His cabinet colleague and fellow-BJP member from Tamil Nadu Pon Radhakrishnan even wanted the people of Tamil Nadu to celebrate this year’s ‘Pongal’ as ‘Modi Pongal’!
Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala said his party “respects traditional sports that have come down generations. The important issue, however, is to ensure there is no cruelty to animals and that the sport is safe for participants and onlookers.” Apparently the Congress Party had missed the traditionalism in ‘Jallikattu’ when it banned it in 2011!
And pray what are these safeguards that Javadekar and Surjewala are talking about? “Such event shall take place in any district, where it is being traditionally held annually, at such place explicitly permitted by the district collector or the district magistrate…. In case of Jallikattu, the moment the bull leaves the enclosure, it shall be tamed within a radial distance of 15m,” the government notification said.
Taming a charging bull within 15m? Now that will be a world record of sorts. Obviously there are going to be markers to tell the boys that they should give up the chase because they have crossed the 15m point. But how does one tell the bull that the game is up after 15m? The government’s guidelines sound like an attempt to regulate a stampede. Point is, is there something called “regulated stampede”? And will any district collector or magistrate be bold enough to take on the organisers who have so much riding on their bulls?
It was W C Fields, American comedian of the previous century, who said “if you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.” The Modi government has baffled Indians exactly the way Fields had advised.
Legal experts are surprised that notwithstanding a Supreme Court order banning ‘Jallikattu’, the government has opted to take the notification route to circumvent the ban. “The legislature has powers to overturn any order of the Supreme Court. But the executive passing an order to do it is too much. Ideally the government should have passed legislation in parliament citing customary practices and traditions, thereby removing issues in the Supreme Court order. The government could have imposed much stricter regulations on ‘Jallikattu’ and allowed the sport to continue. That is called a Validation Act. That would have been a more decent way to seek to change an order of the Supreme Court. Passing an executive order is not,” says former Solicitor-General of India, Mohan Parasaran.
Obviously political considerations outweighed legal concerns because Tamil Nadu is one of the five states going to the polls in about three months and ‘Jallikattu’ is a favourite with the politically powerful Thevar community. The BJP hardly has a presence in the state and is keen to tie-up with the ruling AIADMK. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had written to Modi in August 2015 to have the ban lifted. Modi saw it as another opportunity to get closer to Jayalalithaa and waited for the winter session of parliament to end before acting on her request. It has come in good time for this year’s ‘Jallikattu’ (on January 16) and also as a grand gesture to the state’s electorate. BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan has said the decision will help her party in the polls.
Who cares for a hapless animal if it can help bring a few extra votes at the hustings?
Who will fill Bassi’s shoes?
Delhi’s much-maligned (by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal mainly) police chief Bhim Sain Bassi is set to retire at the end of next month and at least four of his juniors are vying for the hot seat. Much to the chagrin of Kejriwal, Delhi is only a city state and has no power to appoint senior police officers, leave alone chief of the department. That job is the sole prerogative of the federal home ministry with whom Kejriwal has been having a running battle over several issues.
While the home ministry has yet to make its choice as to who will fill Bassi’s shoes, at least one of the hopefuls is leaving nothing to chance. Last week he flew to Rajkot in Gujarat to meet a Hindu preacher who is said to be close to Prime Minister Modi. Nothing like having someone with connections in high places, isn’t it?
Air India flies non-stop to Rajkot but the officer in question got an Uttar Pradesh-based packaging company to lend its private jet to fly him there. If for any reason the same man gets the ministry’s nod, no marks for guessing what Kejriwal would be up to.
