While all the focus is on raging controversy over Jallikattu or taming of bulls in Tamil Nadu, the cockfight or “Kodipandelu”, yet another blood sport is going on without any hindrance in neighboring Andhra Pradesh despite the official ban.
Cockfight involving betting of hundreds of crores of rupees has traditionally been part of Sankranti festival in coastal Andhra Pradesh and a rage both among the gamblers and the common spectators. Though the State Government and the police have cracked down and imposed a ban on the cockfights on the ground of cruelty to animals there is no sign of an end to the blood sport.
The organisers of the cockfights in several districts of Andhra Pradesh are continuing their game of hide and seek with the police as administration is trying to crackdown on them.
With the traditional hubs of Krishna and the Godavari belt under lens of the authorities, the blood sport enthusiasts seem to have turned their attention to the areas bordering Telangana, specially Khammam district this year.
Such was the extent of interest and scale of the sport that the trained cock or roosters were commanding a huge price in the market. According to the market sources, the going price this year for rooster was `10,000 to `60,000.
“There is a lot of money involved in this business as growing up rooster involves a lot of care and expenses with special diet which includes eggs, fish and other special ingredients”, said V Satyanaryana, one of the traders of rooster in Khamam district.
The birds are also being brought from Odisha and Tamil Nadu by paying higher prices as the betters are keen to win the contest at any cost as it involves huge amounts of money.
Three day Sankranti is the biggest festival in Andhra Pradesh and people go all out to celebrate the occasion. According to the industry sources, the amount of betting on cockfights annually has now gone up to `800 crore.
Initially the cockfight was a rural sport meant for recreation but over the years it developed in to a betting game with the competitors bringing improvisations like tying special knives to the legs of the cocks.
This prompted the animal rights activists and the administration to take action and bring a court order banning the blood sport four years ago. But such has been the craze for the cockfights in the region that many prominent politicians openly associate themselves with it and the fight attracts massive crowds with the number of organisers running into thousands.
The activists opposing the cockfights on the ground of cruelty to animals also point out that the events have become a pretext of running many other illegal activities including gambling and the illicit liquor trade.
While there is a High Court order banning the cockfights and the police have been conducting raids in the notorious areas to stop such events every year, the organisers commanding political clout at the local level were hell bent upon going ahead with their programs.
This year Andhra Pradesh Police has also put up banners specially in Krishna, East and West Godavari districts and intensified the patrolling in the villages. “We have already bound over 1,000 people involved in such activities in the past”, said West Godavari district superintendent of police Bhaskar Bhushan. Similar drives have also been launched in East Godavari and Krishna district especially in Vijayawada city.
But those in the know said that the organisers and the enthusiasts were steps ahead of the police and were planning to organise the cock fights in remote areas and the private farm houses by keeping the informers posted in the surrounding areas to alert against police movement.