Andhra silently allows cockfights to go on

The AP government has ‘decided’ neither to lift the ban nor come in the way of people celebrating cockfights.

After observing raucous protests in Tamil Nadu over the season’s harvest sport, Jallikattu, the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh government has decided to silently allow its cockfights, a popular sport celebrated across the coastal districts during the four-day long Sankranti festival that started on Friday. Ministers, lawmakers and general politicians in Andhra Pradesh have followed the developments in Tamil Nadu over allowing Jallikattu, a bulls and buffaloes game during the same Sankranti, popularly called Pongal in Tamil Nadu, as it has an impact on the fate of cockfights here. The Supreme Court has refused to allow Jallikattu and the Centre declined to promulgate an ordinance on it.

The AP government, too, wanted the same relief from the SC as well as the Centre on allowing cockfights in the state as any ban on the centuries’ old cockfight would earn the wrath of people. In fact, there is a ban by the High Court of Hyderabad in 2014 and also a similar order from the State Human Rights Commission, which heard petitions by some animal rights groups.

Serious efforts were made in the last few days by the supporters of cockfights to get the ban lifted, but they couldn’t get any relief. A senior BJP leader, Raghurama Krishnam Raju has filed a petition before the SC last week seeking its nod to allow cockfights. The apex court posted the matter to the next month with an observation that the police in their bid to foil the sport should not confine the cocks.

The AP government has formulated a via media strategy—neither to lift the ban nor come in the way of the people who celebrate the cockfights. Sankranti is the most popular festival in Andhra Pradesh, especially in the coastal districts of East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore. The cops were directed by the higher ups to look away while people celebrated the cockfights. The police are clearly told not to confine the cocks recovered from the fight events.

“We will not permit anyone to conduct or celebrate cockfights, but we may also not confine the cocks as suggested by the apex court,” a DIG told this paper on the condition of anonymity. A senior minister from West Godavari told this reporter on the condition of anonymity: “We should not read too much into simpler pleasures of rural festivities. After all, we all kill chicken and eat it during festivals.”

B. Uma Maheswara Rao, TDP MLA from Vijayawada, told this newspaper: “Harmless cockfights should not be confused with cruelty.” Animal rights activists have attacked the government for not taking action against those who openly violated the court orders. “This is not just a sport, but has reached the proportions of big money in betting and gambling. Around Rs 500 crore changes hands in the name of cockfight,” said G. Srinivas, a rights activist from Amalapuram in East Godavari district.

Those who oppose the sport pointed to cruel practices like fixing blades and knives to feet of cocks and spilling the blood of the defeated roosters. “We shouldn’t allow perverted attitudes of some of the organisers behind the shelter of tradition and customs,” said J. Gautham, a social activist from Gannavaram from the same district. The cockfights in West Godavari have become popular in the entire country as betters and visitors throng here from faraway places like Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and Kolkata. There are hundreds of families in this agriculturally rich delta district who rear sports cocks and spend huge amounts on their feed and training.

The BJP-led NDA government is likely to consult states on the recent Supreme Court notice seeking its views on taking back unused lands allotted to Special Economic Zones (SEZs). This was evident as both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana turned to the Centre after the Supreme Court order on Monday, according to reliable government sources in Hyderabad.

The Centre and the states are to file their affidavits before the SC by the first week of February 2017, on the question of recovering vacant SEZ lands. The SC bench headed by Chief Justice J.S. Khehar Singh, which heard a public interest litigation (PIL) petition on 9 January, has also called for more details from the states on the land status of SEZs.

Besides Telangana and AP, the top court also issued notices to four other states— Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,