The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoE), is to be reconstituted soon, which augurs well for the continuation of Jallikattu without a hitch in the coming years despite legal challenges pending in the apex court, said Karthikeya Sivasenapathy, leading Jallikattu campaigner and Founder of Senaapathy Kangayam Cattle Research Foundation (SKCRF).

Participating in a discussion on “Native livestock of Tamil Nadu and our Bio-cultural sports” at Government College of Technology, Sivasenapathy said that there is no rationale in targeting PETA-India alone for the ban which was imposed on Jallikattu in the past. AWBI and Blue Cross were equally responsible he said and added that banning PETA could not be achieved overnight as is expected and “ban is not an answer by itself,” he noted.

Lauding the student community for taking up the worthy cause of Jallikattu and scoring a victory, Sivasenapathy said if not for the student protests Jallikattu could not have been revived and certain strictures banning it revoked. The State and Central Government took up the matter on a war footing and found a solution to enable the resumption of the bull-taming sport, thanks to the untiring campaign mounted by the student agitators. Even the political classes were taken by surprise and were rattled by the agitation, Sivasenapathy said.

While answering a question raised by a student on whether the student community should continue to fight for worthy causes as they did in the case of Jallikattu, Sivasenapathy said the rampant sand mining has assumed alarming proportions all over the State and the student community could take it up and mount a struggle to end sand theft from all river beds. Likewise, the fighting to revoke the ban on toddy tapping could help revive native farmers, he said.

While answering another question on whether he is interested in entering politics to promote his long-held ideals, the Jallikattu campaigner answered in the negative and said that non-political campaigns could also produce good and lasting results.