NEW DELHI: Ban on Jallikattu should be seen as a "nefarious design" of animal rights groups to wipe out native breeds in favour of corporates, alleged Karthikeya Sivasenapathy, managing trustee of Tamil Nadu-based Senaapathy Kangayam Cattle Research Foundation today. "Some major animal rights groups are in close nexus with corporates who have an agenda to come into India.
Such collaboration has become a threat to remaining native breeds across the country," he said here. "Ban on Jallikattu does not only deny Tamil people their culture, but also 13 breeds of India are under threat because of the ban. States like Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, AP, Gujarat and Punjab should take up the issue.
We have to look at it as a live stock-based issue," Sivasenapathy said. Recently, Sivasenapathy resigned from the post of Board Member (Livestock and Farming) in the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in protest against the ban on Jallikattu. Sivasenapathy, who was in the national capital for three days, met Union Ministers Anil Madhav Dave, Rajnath Singh and Minister of State for Road Transport Pon Radhakrishnan to apprise them about the technicalities and effects on native breeds because of the ban.
He also appealed to the Supreme Court to set up a committee, on the lines of Lodha Committee, to have a stakeholder consultation to find a permanent solution for the issue. "We request the Supreme Court to appoint a committee and hold a stakeholder consultation to look into the intent of the protest in Tamil Nadu against the ban and see the larger issue," Sivasenapathy said. "ICAR's National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources in Haryana should be brought into the consultation process along with other stakeholders to give a deep thought into the issue and save the native breeds," he said.