In India, a bull is often defined as a male cow. It is one of the rarest of the  rare instances in which the male of a species derives its identity from the female ! For most other species, the gender identity usually goes the other way.

So, don’t you think that the cow should be celebrated as a feminist icon India? Sadly, not so. Nevertheless, lots of people point out that ‘newly patriotic India’  has been worshipping the cow for centuries, if not as a symbol of women’s rights then as the mother, the nurturer.

Unfortunately, the bull, by its very sex, can never meet the lofty standards set by the cow. So it is liable to be jabbed, poked and maimed as part of the game called Jallikattu, which is widely popular in Tamil Nadu.

Jallikattu had been banned by the Supreme Court in 2014 on grounds of cruelty. But the Centre as well as the Tamil Nadu government are keen on bringing it back.

The paradox involved in trying to allow bulls to be tortured while seeking to protect cows does not seem to have struck the ‘cow friendly’ ruling party at the Centre. The highest court pointed out the inconsistency as it berated the Central government for lending its support to the sport.

In very recent times, India has been swearing ‘undying love’ for the cow before a disbelieving world. The devotion is so intense that it has taken kinky forms – cowdung cakes, which are an object of daily use in poorer rural households, are now being sold online as a ritual item and cow urine is presented as a panacea for various ills. How can the love for the bovine dwindle to zilch when it comes to the cow’s male counterpart?

Psychoanalysts may detect Oedipal undertones in the story, but for most, this is just a shameless display of double standard.

The battle over Jallikattu has been going on for a long time. Neither the government of Tamil Nadu nor the Centre will see reason – which is being stressed by the court – because each has its target audience to please.

Of course, not having a vote, animals, even if they are the very ‘patriotic’ type, do not constitute any of these audiences. So they can be pushed around to serve the interests of sundry groups.

The contradiction in the Central government’s attitude towards the two genders of the bovine species is more apparent than real. At the end of the day, cows and bulls alike would be sacrificed for the sport of wanton boys, never mind whether they come in the garb of bull-baiters or cow-protectors.

[slightly adapted by Bru Lova]

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