JALLIKATTU PROTEST: HOW STUDENTS AND YOUTH GOT USED

Hello World,

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/T.N.’s-new-jallikattu-law-faces-challenge-in-Supreme-Court/article17095532.ece

The recently concluded #JallikattuProtest is being pushed out as a victory for students and youth while it is a case of carefully planned scheme that fooled students and youth who protested. While I believe that the entire #Jallikattu issue is a big-brother-helps-little-brother political drama, I would like to analyse the possible backdrop of this issue so the students and youth get an opportunity to understand the reality of the situation. To start, please refer to the image above for the news report on potential legal hassle approaching the recently declared 'victory of students and youth.'

What’s the Plan About and What Happened

PeTA, founded in 2000 in India, took over a decade to get to the animal rights in #Jallikattu. That’s an organization which has the capability to investigate secretly guarded animal-abuse practices. For some reason, the organization took over a decade to get to #Jallikattu, which happens to be a public event conducted annually. Not one person in the media has discussed this aspect.

A and B had planned for a collaborative #Jallikattu issue where the A would enable the ban on the sport and the B would do a miraculous counter effort to get back what rightfully belongs to its regional citizens. Unfortunately, those who wrote the story and script did not get elected again to continue the drama into the second term. The new comers, C and D realized there is a quality script ready and decided to produce it and arranged the release. 

As per script, the local parties should have taken turns to call for ‘Bandh’ and when a few of those happened over a span of 4-8 weeks, D would make a publicity-laden appeal to C stating #Jallikattu is part of the region’s cultural identity and C would grant a carefully crafted ruling that will remove the ban on #Jallikattu. D would get the intended ‘Hero’ image and will build the vote bank using this image as the stepping stone. C, in exchange will get the support of all elected D members for everything C tries to achieve.

Unfortunately, out of the blue, students and youth got together at the beach. As the protestor crowd got bigger and bigger, everyone expected someone will start causing nuisance and the police will get cracking. However, the students and youth maintained fair discipline and also cleaned up their trash. This added to the surprise. The party cadres waited to get to the streets with their planned nuisance scheme but the students and youth just went for days in a row. 

Finally the party cadres decided to join the students and youth which is where the screenplay took an unusual twist. The students and youth said NO to all PARTY groups. This came as a surprise to the party cadres.

What was the Response

The party cadres including C and D realized that allowing this protest to go further will only nullify their presence and most importantly, the public perception of their power. So they carefully planned to establish a well declared defeat for the students and youth. They planted their youth-wing cadres dressed in black amongst the honest students and youth who were protesting for #Jallikattu. This is how different smaller groups within the #JallikattuProtest started protesting for things other than #Jallikattu. The unassuming protestor crowd did not know they were already neck deep in this carefully designed chaos. They were still believing their protest for #Jallikattu was just growing in size. The reality is that there was a parallel ‘noise’ that kept growing, muffling their genuine objectives and projecting a digressing protest that to me indicated its end is near.

The Current Perception and Possible Reality Behind

The students and youth, for the most part , believe their protest ended in violence but their efforts got the desired results. Unfortunately, from my perspective, that’s not the case. I still believe, the ordnance is a back up plan that was used to bring the protest to an end and appease the fairly unaware students and youth that they won. The fact is the students and youth entered a game where the planned teams and players were very different groups and none of them included these protesting students and youth. 

What Could be Possible Future of #JallikattuIssue

The top court is going to shoot down the ordnance saying its is up to C to do the necessary corrective measure and D’s actions will not be legally valid. The party groups will then move as per their original script and schedule multiple ‘bandhs’ before D will make a louder and stronger plea to C. Then, C will make a remarkable legal provision, and with drumroll in the background, announce that #Jallikattu and the use of the banned animal will remain legal forever. D and C will continue to convince the voters that it is them who took the fight from the students and youth and ran the final leg all alone, and valiantly fought for the cultural identity of their people. The students and youth, out of part embarrassment and part fear, will stay away from any such protest in future and the PARTY groups will continue their voyage. The voters will continue to believe that when they vote, they have to vote for a PARTY and not an independent. The world will be back to the chaotic equilibrium it used to be. 

I don’t want to emphasise that I am exactly right in my assumption. I am however, inclined to ask the question: If this is not what it is, what else could it be? 

Summing up, I wish to conclude, stating the students and youth came up for something they felt passionate about and demonstrated top-notch civil behaviour. However, they are not as trained as the party groups and could not detect or avoid infiltration and digression. In the end, the students and youth got used for the ulterior motives of so many who did not share the true passion for culture or freedom as the students and youth do. After all, everyday regular people can't take up things in their hand, get together in large gathering and go against a massive industry designed to cheat humans: politics. This will remain the case as long as voters believe, they have to vote for a party. #ThinkIndependent

Update as of 1st Feb, 2017:

The supreme court has refused to stay the new state law enabling #jallikattu. While most of my fellow citizens consider this a victory of those who protested, I see this as a new complex issue in the making. This new issue might be aimed at establishing the recent and future 'protest mentality' as unreasonable and naive. Here's my take on this:

If supreme court should allow the state law defying its previous judgement banning usage of bulls in #jallikattu, then to be fair, it should also allow the other state's law that enables them to stop river water from flowing out of their catchments. 

The supreme court is going to point at the state-level #jallikattu law and consider the other state's law on river water distribution on the same grounds of similarity. While the legal descriptions may very, the court finding will claim if one state is to be allowed a state law overriding the supreme court's judgement, the other state's law overriding the supreme court judgement should also be permitted on grounds of similarity in legislation driven by popular public sentiment.

In essence, the supreme court is about to set an example situation which will end declaring the very objectives of the #jallikattu protest as unwarranted, illegal and last but not the least, stupid. The parties will wait until the turn of events reach this stage and then make a claim saying it is them who are more qualified to bring political solutions in the most legal manner as opposed to protest-driven ordinances such as the recent #jallikattu law. Again, this will be done, only to ensure the political class regains its public power perception. 

While I support the students and youth about their core beliefs, I have to say, they screamed ordinance when they first got the media attention. Halfway through, when they realized ordinance can be shot down by the court, they started demanding permanent solution. As a result of ambiguity in objective, the political class is trying to divide them into two groups: one that feels the protest should have gone a different route and another that feels they got what they asked for and the students deserve this victory. Unfortunately, given the state of things, the political class seems to be gaining strength in terms of discouraging any further such protest mentality, now that the division is clearly visible.

Summing up again, what could be solved in one step of removing the bull's name from a list, has taken the longest route possible causing the entire nation an administrative overhead, only to be positioned for another decade long legal battle that can go either ways and the worst case can result in long term ban on #jallikattu. When the state demands river water from the other state, the supreme court is going to say, your #jallikattu law is the basis on which the other state is allowed a similar law to stop river water sharing. When the state says, the law was passed to appease the sentiments of students and youth and the general public, the court is going to suggest, the state can get their water from the same students, youth and public who protested for the ordinance. To be fair, the students, youth and public in the other state demanded the river water to stay within their territory and their government passed a law over the supreme court judgement, just like what happened for #jallikattu. This will end up with the political class, pointing their fingers at students and youth, calling them responsible for all this trouble. Everyone can celebrate the victory of #jallikattu protests and the state law until this happens. Just my thought.

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