The the common bulls of Tamil Nadu are classified along bears, panthers, tigers etc and hence Jallikattu is technically banned. Wow! Kerala can go ahead with its elephants, which are actually wild animals in every sense. But Tamils should not touch the bull. The bulls of Tamil Nadu are selectively bred for their strength and endurance. As an agrarian society, Tamils relied upon bulls for ploughing and drawing carts from prehistoric times. You can't say that selectively bred and domesticated animals are "wild" by any definition. Also, if bull is wild then how cows can be allowed to be kept in farm and their milk to be sold? Can we sell tiger milk?
Unlike bull-fights of Spain, where the bull is actually killed, Jallikattu actually ends with just holding a bull for certain seconds or certain count of jumps. Usage of liquor, torture devices etc are non-native practices and they should be monitored and stopped. But to stop the event itself is far-fetched. Are we going to ban cricket due to gambling? Also regulations can be made to ensure audience safety. Instead of taking such rational and simple steps, organizations like PeTA are forcing government to ban the event itself.
On the other side there are people who are crying that there is a corporate conspiracy to kill the native breed. This also seems to be an overkill. So these people are saying that same PeTA which wants to ban milk and leather industry in the West wants to bring foreign breed cattle here in India! Also some Facebook/Twitter posts by these conspiracy theorists claim that PeTA is silent about beef but protests Jallikattu. In reality PeTA is actively protesting against all forms of meat from chicken to beef. They will surely protest against goat/rooster sacrifice in rural temples. They have already protested against Eid sacrifices. Please go through the links below.
http://www.petaindia.com/blog/celebrate-life-vegan-eid/ - PeTA against Eid
http://www.petaindia.com/issues/animals-used-for-food/milk/ - PeTA against milk
http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/meat-environment/ - PeTA against meat
http://action.petaindia.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=111&ea.campaign.id=2856 - PeTA in action
http://www.petaindia.com/blog/victory-animal-sacrifice-banned-at-nepals-gadhimai-festival/ - PeTA against Hindu animal sacrifice
From above links, it is clear that PeTA is a militant and stupid organization that wants to push its version of morality, disregarding the sentiments and traditions of native people. But the conspiracy theorists selectively portray that PeTA is only against Jallikattu and trying to bring other breeds of cows. This nonsense also takes religious and racist tones in some posts. If you people are silent about other activities of PeTA, then the price you pay for it will be a ban on Jallikattu. Are you ready to fight PeTA in all fronts? Then we can get Jallikattu back!
We either look it as a conspiracy by West/NGO/Corporates or we see it as animal cruelty and act of barbarianism. Both are not exactly true. The truth is some where in the middle.
PeTA, which protests against everything from KFC to cow's milk, is often ignored as a fringe group. But that fringe group already has a lot of impact in our everyday lives. They want to save stray dogs at the cost of road users and children's lives. They want to portray meat eaters as criminals, rapists etc. They want to portray traditional foods like fish, poultry, lamb etc as unhealthy. They want to ban fishing, farming of animals, leather, wool, testing drugs on animals and the list goes on! All these have a direct and enormous impact on our lives. Yet they are deceptively hiding the facts and portray themselves as people for protecting animals and a group that is fighting against cruelty.
From hate speech to scaremongering hoaxes, PeTA has tried its hands on many "below the belt" tactics with the public. And with politicians and bureaucrats, they cheat, bribe, threaten or lobby with people's money against people's interest. This organization without any help from corporates can do such dirty jobs and I think this group itself is a corporate! So what we need to do is to identify such groups, isolate them and ban them. One such group is Greenpeace, which our government rightly identified and banned recently. PeTA should face the same fate.
Some people are cherry picking PeTA's campaigns to support some of their views and care less about what PeTA is doing in other issues. For example, some people who are opposing meat, support PeTA thinking that they are actually helping. But they care less about PeTA's stand on milk. How many Indian vegetarians are ready to give up milk? If you support PeTA, think twice. Check out their motto and modus operandi in all issues and then decide if you want to really support them.
So to conclude, the fight is not only towards Jallikattu ban. Tomorrow it may be a ban on animal sacrifice in temples or ban on camel slaughter during Eid. So for everyone's interest, let us fight these inhuman organizations like PeTA, AWB and other such elements that cause too much trouble in the society.
Update: Central Government has made amendments to allow Jallikattu in the law, but the decision has been challenged in court!
Unlike bull-fights of Spain, where the bull is actually killed, Jallikattu actually ends with just holding a bull for certain seconds or certain count of jumps. Usage of liquor, torture devices etc are non-native practices and they should be monitored and stopped. But to stop the event itself is far-fetched. Are we going to ban cricket due to gambling? Also regulations can be made to ensure audience safety. Instead of taking such rational and simple steps, organizations like PeTA are forcing government to ban the event itself.
On the other side there are people who are crying that there is a corporate conspiracy to kill the native breed. This also seems to be an overkill. So these people are saying that same PeTA which wants to ban milk and leather industry in the West wants to bring foreign breed cattle here in India! Also some Facebook/Twitter posts by these conspiracy theorists claim that PeTA is silent about beef but protests Jallikattu. In reality PeTA is actively protesting against all forms of meat from chicken to beef. They will surely protest against goat/rooster sacrifice in rural temples. They have already protested against Eid sacrifices. Please go through the links below.
http://www.petaindia.com/blog/celebrate-life-vegan-eid/ - PeTA against Eid
http://www.petaindia.com/issues/animals-used-for-food/milk/ - PeTA against milk
http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/meat-environment/ - PeTA against meat
http://action.petaindia.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=111&ea.campaign.id=2856 - PeTA in action
http://www.petaindia.com/blog/victory-animal-sacrifice-banned-at-nepals-gadhimai-festival/ - PeTA against Hindu animal sacrifice
From above links, it is clear that PeTA is a militant and stupid organization that wants to push its version of morality, disregarding the sentiments and traditions of native people. But the conspiracy theorists selectively portray that PeTA is only against Jallikattu and trying to bring other breeds of cows. This nonsense also takes religious and racist tones in some posts. If you people are silent about other activities of PeTA, then the price you pay for it will be a ban on Jallikattu. Are you ready to fight PeTA in all fronts? Then we can get Jallikattu back!
We either look it as a conspiracy by West/NGO/Corporates or we see it as animal cruelty and act of barbarianism. Both are not exactly true. The truth is some where in the middle.
PeTA, which protests against everything from KFC to cow's milk, is often ignored as a fringe group. But that fringe group already has a lot of impact in our everyday lives. They want to save stray dogs at the cost of road users and children's lives. They want to portray meat eaters as criminals, rapists etc. They want to portray traditional foods like fish, poultry, lamb etc as unhealthy. They want to ban fishing, farming of animals, leather, wool, testing drugs on animals and the list goes on! All these have a direct and enormous impact on our lives. Yet they are deceptively hiding the facts and portray themselves as people for protecting animals and a group that is fighting against cruelty.
From hate speech to scaremongering hoaxes, PeTA has tried its hands on many "below the belt" tactics with the public. And with politicians and bureaucrats, they cheat, bribe, threaten or lobby with people's money against people's interest. This organization without any help from corporates can do such dirty jobs and I think this group itself is a corporate! So what we need to do is to identify such groups, isolate them and ban them. One such group is Greenpeace, which our government rightly identified and banned recently. PeTA should face the same fate.
Some people are cherry picking PeTA's campaigns to support some of their views and care less about what PeTA is doing in other issues. For example, some people who are opposing meat, support PeTA thinking that they are actually helping. But they care less about PeTA's stand on milk. How many Indian vegetarians are ready to give up milk? If you support PeTA, think twice. Check out their motto and modus operandi in all issues and then decide if you want to really support them.
So to conclude, the fight is not only towards Jallikattu ban. Tomorrow it may be a ban on animal sacrifice in temples or ban on camel slaughter during Eid. So for everyone's interest, let us fight these inhuman organizations like PeTA, AWB and other such elements that cause too much trouble in the society.
Update: Central Government has made amendments to allow Jallikattu in the law, but the decision has been challenged in court!
