ANALYSIS. Red rag to a bull: Protests in the time of social media

It is quite easy to dismiss the raging protests in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu against the ban on conducting the bull-taming sport jallikattu as one launched by a few misguided college students. It’s not quite that.

When a few students gathered on the Marina Beach here on Tuesday, immediately after the harvest festival of Pongal, to protest the ban, there was a genuine feeling of hurt Tamil pride and that there was an assault on the State’s rich tradition and culture.

The anger then was directed at no one in particular; it was just that the protesters wanted the ban to be lifted and the sport to be conducted as it has been over the last several years. It would not even have occurred to them that a mass protest might lead the Supreme Court to revoke the ban it had imposed in 2014.

Thanks to Whatsapp and other social media forums, mobilising the crowd became a breeze.

One message that goes viral is enough to mobilise mass opinion or a crowd, as has been seen in several other instances. That is also what happened when the youngsters decided to voice their anger and frustration by assembling on the Marina. They stayed put on the beach on Tuesday night and, by Wednesday morning, they were joined by hundreds of students from other colleges in and around the city and young IT professionals — the segment that is quick to post and forward messages on social media platforms.

But as it often happens in protests or assemblies of such kinds, the crowd swelled and soon became unruly. And, again, as it often happens, the media — especially the English language media — became the target. Anyone opposing or even questioning the agitation was branded anti-Tamil or a stooge of some imagined foreign power. Worse still, they were manhandled. The protesters now would brook no opposition.

As is expected in Tamil Nadu, film stars too joined in, expressing their support for lifting the ban on jallikattu; after all, many films have glorified the hero’s manliness in being able to tame a raging bull. The protesters did not even allow politicians in their midst, telling them politely to keep off.

As usual, political parties play the blame game, hoping to reap whatever political dividends they can. When you go through posts and reactions on social media, much of the anger now is directed at NGOs that were behind the ban. One such response on Twitter goes: just because piercing the ear causes a lot of pain to a child, will you get an international NGO to ask for a ban on ear-piercing?

Chief Minister O Panneerselvam air-dashed to Delhi and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi today to request him to promulgate an ordinance to revoke the ban. Modi played it safe by pointing out that the matter is sub judice. After all, the Modi government had tried to circumvent the Supreme Court imposed ban by coming up with a notification that would have allowed jallikattu to be conducted, only for the apex court to quash that notification also.

With the protesters growing in numbers, most of them unruly, and many other sections of society joining the protest in some form or the other, one wonders how the issue will play out.

The Supreme Court refused to be pressured into having an early hearing, before Pongal, to settle the issue. It is surely not going to be swayed by public sentiments.

At best, a partial relaxation can be contemplated — conducting the sport under stringent conditions. Even then, how those conditions will be monitored is anybody’s guess. One thing is clear: the police either intentionally allowed the assembly on Tuesday on the Marina or were caught completely unawares.

This protest once again reiterates the power of social media to form public opinion. And, yet again, in a not so favourable light.

COMMENT NOW