Buckling under pressure of animal rights activists, the Department of Tourism of Rajasthan has decided to scale down the popular elephant festival. Held to coincide with Holi celebrations in Jaipur, the elephant festival is a colourful event that used to begin with a spectacular parade of decorated elephants, before an afternoon of music and folk dancing, culminating in an enormous game of elephant polo. The day-long festival used to be a celebration of the elephants, the traditional bearers of royalty throughout the ages and a symbol of power. However, this year, after an intervention from People for Ethical Treatment to Animals (PETA) and other groups such as the government controlled Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), the Tourism Department decided to remove elephant polo and tug of war from the festival. They have also changed the name of the festival to ‘Holi Festival’. “The Animal Welfare Board of India had written to us that there is some violation of exhibiting the elephants. That is why; we are going whatever they are saying. We will adopt whatever they want,” said Assistant Director of Tourism Department of Rajasthan, Upendra Singh Shekhawat. The move has upset hundreds of tourists who had come in large numbers to witness the grand event. “It is little bit disappointing. We came to Jaipur, especially, to come and see elephants in the festival. We heard from a lot of people that there is tug of war, and it is a lot of fun. So, we are really disappointed that elephants aren’t here this year,” said a tourist, Maria. According to the activists, who fight for animal rights, the elephants are not taken care of by their respective handlers locally known as Mahouts and blamed the elephant owners for such a state of affairs. “They (elephants) are not given proper food. They are shackled in chains and they cannot even move forward, one step forward, when they are kept in chains. So, that’s also an issue. And that’s animal abuse,” said a PETA activist, Sarvgya Bhargil. PETA claims that an elephant may develop foot infections and arthritis after long hours of standing on rough surfaces. It also insists that elephants need vast spaces to roam, socialise, and express their natural behaviour whereas captivity induces several health problems in them and can even lead to their death. (ANI)
