With an Ordinance promulgated to lift the ban on jallikattu (bull-taming) in Tamil Nadu, the demand for lifting the ban on kambala — buffalo racing — is gaining momentum in coastal Karnataka.
Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts Kambala Samiti has convened a meeting on Sunday to discuss the fallout of the Tamil Nadu Ordinance.
K. Gunapala Kadamba, president of the Kambala Academy, told The Hindu that the meeting would discuss the steps to be taken.
The State government in November last informed the High Court, during the hearing of a PIL petition filed by PETA, that it had withdrawn the permission given to hold kambala based on the Supreme Court’s order on jallikattu. The hearing on the petition is scheduled for January 30.
Mr. Kadamba said while the buffalo race was a development in the last four decades, traditional kambala was over 1,000 years old. Sitharam Shetty, a kambala organiser from Bantwal, said kambala could be “saved” as its ban was a fallout of the ban on jallikattu.
Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries R.V. Deshpande said on Saturday that the State government could also promulgate an Ordinance to allow kambala, provided a demand for it built up.
Online campaign
Netizens on various social media sites have, meanwhile, started campaigns in support of the traditional practice. Ravikantha Kundapura, a media person, who was among the first to start the campaign, tweeted: “Almost all cine artists in Tamil Nadu have stood for jallikattu; let’s see how many Kannada stars rise for kambala.”
Actor Jaggesh also lent his voice for kambala. “Let there not be a divide — Uttara Karnataka or Dakshina Karnataka. Let us all stand united,” he tweeted.
(With inputs from Raghava M.)
