Assam holds buffalo fight despite Supreme Court ban

Guwahati: In what may be called an implication of the Jallikattu ordinance, the organisers of traditional sports in Assam on Saturday resolved to defy the court ban on buffalo and bulbul fight of 2014 by restarting it in 2017.

However, these centuries old traditional sports were not hosted since 2014 during the Magh Bihu, the organisers of these animal and bird fight met at Hayagriva-Madhava temple in Hajo on Saturday and decided to launch a movement asking the government to scrap the court order through an ordinance. The committee decided to organise ‘Bulbul fight’ to register their protest and opposition to the court ban.

On Friday, hundreds of people thronged Morgan’s Amateur, 80km from Guwahati, to enjoy the traditional Moh-Juj (buffalo fight), where over 15 pairs of buffaloes locked horns in a large ground.

However, the organising committee — Amateur Moh Juj Aru Bhogali Utsav Udjapan Samiti — stayed away from the event, but allowed owners and keepers of buffaloes to hold it.

Committee secretary Pranabjyoti Das said, “Like Jallikattu, Moh-Juj  is also associated with the culture of Assam. The government should withdraw the restriction.”

Buffalo fights used to be held in a grand manner at Amateur in central Assam’s Morigaon and Sivasagar in eastern Assam, while bulbul fights used to be held at Hajo, about 30km south of Guwahati, at the famous Hayagriva-Madhava temple. The Amateur Moh-Juj and Bulbul Fight Management Committee has appealed to the Centre to allow it to hold buffalo fights.

Former Congress MLA, Haren Das, has also appealed to Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal to replicate the measures of the Tamil Nadu government for the resumption of the fights of buffalos and bulbuls. After court orders, bulbul fights were off Magh-Bihu celebrations in the last two years but buffalo fights did take place, albeit unofficially at some places.