The Assam Authorities, led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, reinstated the usual buffalo fight (Moh-Juj) after a nine-year hiatus.
The event, held in the Ahotguri dwelling of Nagaon district, marks a necessary cultural revival. The Supreme Court docket had previously banned such events, same to Tamil Nadu’s Jallikattu and Maharashtra’s bullock cart races.
Chief Minister Sarma, accompanied by his partner Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, attended the event.
Sarma later wrote on X, “In one more effort to revive and keep Assam’s timeless Bihu traditions, I had the privilege of witnessing the Moh-Juj after a nine-year hiatus in Ahotguri.”
From ban to reinstatement
The Supreme Court docket had outlawed Jallikattu and bullock-cart races in 2014, together with events of a same nature.
Alternatively, a breakthrough came in May perhaps doubtless per chance also remaining year when a five-resolve bench upheld amendments by Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Karnataka to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960. This allowed the resumption of bull-taming sports.
Responding to a Gauhati excessive court query in October, the Assam Authorities dedicated to framing Licensed Working Procedures (SOP).
Which skill that fact, on December 8, 2023, the express cabinet licensed the revival of usual buffalo fights under strict SOP.
In response to Sarma, Moh-Juj was as soon as launched to Assamese tradition by the 30th Ahom king Swargadeo Rudra Singha with regards to 200 years ago.
Alongside buffalo fights, Swargadeo Rudra Singha launched elephant-fights and bird fights, events that conducted a unifying position in society.
The chief minister confused out the tender steadiness completed between animal welfare and the celebration of usual tradition.
Along with to Moh-Juj, the Assam Authorities also revived the usual bird-fight, Bulbuli fight, which had faced a ban in 2016. The event, organised in Hayagriva Madhav, was as soon as attended by Chief Minister Sarma and his family. Sarma reiterated the authorities’s dedication to breathing lifestyles into usual customs and rituals.
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PETA’s considerations
Of us for the Ethical Remedy of Animals (PETA), India, raised considerations about the events being a violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960. PETA urged Chief Minister Sarma to end Moh-Juj and Bulbuli bird fights for the length of the Bhogali Bihu competition, emphasising the elegant implications basically basically based on Supreme Court docket judgments.
(With inputs from agencies)
