Cases, Covid keep organisers away from cockfights in I. Bhimavaram this Sankranti

KAKINADA: The cacophony while organising cockfights for Sankranti is missing from I. Bhimavaram village of Akividu mandal in West Godavari district. The organisers decided to keep away due to legal cases. As a result, the village will celebrate Sankranti without cockfights.

According to Kanumuri Abbayi Raju, Andhra Pradesh has been organising cockfights for over four centuries in keeping with the tradition and culture of the place.

“This is the only source of entertainment for the people, especially the farmers during Sankranti. Earlier, cockfights were held in the presence of a huge crowd. Now, it is said to have become a sort of gambling that cannot be compared to cricket or horse racing,” he said.

“Many rich people and politicians like former TTD chairmen, ministers, MPs, MLCs and others were involved in playing cockfights. It was a big thing to bet Rs 100. Gradually, it became a big source of entertainment and many celebrities, software engineers, NRIs and others got involved,’’ said Abbayi Raju.

He said he was protecting Sankranti traditions for decades since his grandfather’s generation and pointed out that now the cockfights are being organised with flashlights, tents, chairs and other paraphernalia and no law and order problem has come up even for once in the past five decades in the village. He said that many people used to be entertained and forget their labour during Sankranti.

Earlier, he said that many police officers used to attend the game before going home, but, it was unknown outside of the village.

However, after smartphones became popular and electronic media expanded, cockfights came into spotlight and animal lovers stepped in to prevent cruelty to animals. He said he wanted to honour courts and the government and thus kept away from cockfights. He said that Covid-19 is also one of the reasons for no cockfights this year.