Get set for Jallikattu jamboree in Chennai on January 7

On January 7, 2018, Chennai will host a Jallikattu competition.

Chennai, Dec 15: In a year, things change a lot, really.

Almost a year after the residents of Chennai in Tamil Nadu rose in protest to allow holding of Jallikattu, the city is all set to host a jamboree of the traditional bull-taming sport in the lines of the Indian Premier League, on January 7, 2018.

The day-long traditional sporting festival will be hosted in a plot opposite the Madras Crocodile Bank on East Coast Road, reported The Times of India.

The event is the brainchild of Tamil Nadu Jallikattu Peravai and Chennai Jallikattu Amaipu. A logo for the event was unveiled by the organisers of the Jallikattu jamboree on Thursday.

The organisers have selected 500 youngsters and 500 bulls from 17 districts across Tamil Nadu to take part in the event. The event is a "free for all" spectacle.

In fact, the entire competition will be televised by Zee Tamizh on Mattu Pongal day, organisers said.

"Majority of people in the northern Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, have not witnessed Jallikattu, the sport of the valiant (Veera Vilayattu). Though thousands of students gathered on the Marina beach to demand a law allowing the sport to be held last January, not many had seen it," Rajmohan Arumugam, one of the members of organising groups of the event, was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

The event has been announced at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing a case challenging the law that legalises Jallikattu and categorises bulls as performing animals.

A Constitution bench is likely to decide whether Jallikattu is a cultural right.

The Supreme Court had banned Jallikattu in 2014 after activists said it constitutes extreme animal cruelty in the sport that involves young men wrestling with bulls to celebrate the harvest.

However, in January this year, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government enacted a law to bypass the apex court's verdict after massive protests erupted across the state to allow people to host the bull-taming sport.

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