N Sundaresha Subramanian: How the Jallikattu bull was let loose

Leadership vaccum and spurious WhatsApp forwards combine to make it an issue of Tamil pride

India’s cow belt seems to be in a state of amusement. It is struggling to comprehend the fuss at a South Indian beach over its holy animal’s male counterpart. And, it is not even about holiness. What the ban on Jallikattu seems to have evoked is a bond recognised by the nation’s founding fathers as strong as religion, if not stronger. It has stoked the fire of linguistic identity. Tamil, the language, Tamilan, the individual, and Tamilinam, the cultural identity have been the rallying calls for what is being described as Tamil Nadu’s Arab Spring moment. 

The Tamil pride has been a significant element in state politics and a misreading of this by national parties has shut them out of the state for five decades now. People are already comparing the student protests of the past week across the state to the 1965 anti-Hindi agitations. It is the Supreme Court and its ruling now. It was the Central government’s deadline to adopt Hindi has the sole official language then. It is January now. It was January then. Madurai, known for its short tempered hot-heads, was the epicentre of riots then, the city has already seen protesters stopping an express train in the middle of a river bridge. 

Youngsters and students participate in a protest to lift the ban on Jallikattu and impose ban on PETA, at Marina Beach in Chennai

Jallikattu, a sport tied to the Tamil harvest festival of Pongal, has remained an integral part of the countryside and has been glamourised in films by mass heroes such as MGR, Sivaji, Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan. Pongal is a celebration to thank the sun, an indispensable part of agriculture, by making an offering out of the first harvest. It falls on Makar Sankranti, the day the sun begins its northward journey, which is celebrated in different parts of the country under different names.

Tamils chose to honour the bovines, too, which play a significant part in agriculture by ploughing, processing and transporting, besides producing milk and valuable manure. So, they dedicated an entire day to them — Maattu Pongal. The festival did not discriminate between cows and bulls. They were bathed, decorated with sandal paste, vermillion dots, fresh paint, and garlands made of fresh flowers. 

If Maattu Pongal was a fashion week, Jallikattu would be the show-stopper. While Pongal was mostly a family event, Jallikattu was when the larger community got involved. It was a loosely regulated sport with poor facilities, populated mostly by amateurs, where every year scores of people got injured, some even fatally.  But, it was a spectacle, nonetheless. The television audience likes such spectacles. As commercialisation creeped in, the love for the beast and the spirit of thanksgiving were trampled upon somewhere. It is in this backdrop, Jallikattu became a subject of several petitions before the Supreme Court (SC).

After studying the game, its background, cultural aspects and treatment of the animals in great detail, SC in May 2014 banned it. A half-baked central government notification to restart it last year was also struck down by the apex court. Yet, not much happened in the last two Pongals. But, suddenly spurious WhatsApp forwards with sketchy theories about Jallikattu being a bio-cultural sport that aided the procreation of indigenous breeds seem to have triggered a mass movement. Rational arguments are being beaten down by passionate calls against PETA and barbaric ones against its ambassador, actor Trisha.

Why now? One person conspicuous by her absence is J Jayalalithaa. The strong leader’s demise in December after a prolonged hospitalisation, over the details of which doubts still linger, has created a scenario of uncertainty, which many quarters want to exploit. The ruling party is headed by Jayalalithaa’s confidante, V K Sasikala, while the government is headed by O Panneerselvam. Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa Jayakumar has also staked claim to the Amma legacy. M K Stalin, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) working president, is waiting in the wings for an opportune moment. National parties such as the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress also do not want to lose out on the opportunity.

Several independent observers have noted that Jallikattu is just a focal point on which people have been able to unite, rising over various differences. But, even this argument seems weak as voices from the Dalit community have criticised the hypocrisy of OBC communities, which discriminate with them in other matters. It also seems to be a soft issue. Kid-glove treatment to protesters with some cops even seen making speeches at Marina and absence of control over WhatsApp are signs. A Cauvery protest could hurt people from other states living here. A protest over mystery around Jayalalithaa’s death could create unmanageable situations. 

Feeding on all these factors, the Jallikattu bull seems to have become too big to fail. A state Ordinance allowing the sport with adequate safeguards could be a marketable success. The dividends of the anti-Hindi agitation were reaped by DMK, which decimated the Nehru-less Congress in the 1967 state elections. Fifty years later, will history repeat? Or will this be the moment when national forces reclaim dominance? The Assembly session that begins on Monday could have some answers.