Will lobby for dhirios at Centre: Mauvin Godinho

PORVORIM: Animal husbandry minister Mauvin Godinho on Wednesday promised to speak to the Centre and lobby with the Narendra Modi-led government to legalise bullfighting (

dhirios

), a sport banned in the state since the early 1990s.

Lawmakers from within the BJP-led coalition government and the opposition appealed to the state government to explore ways to restart bullfighting in the state.

“I will fight for this actively and lobby in Delhi. This is something that Goans love,” Godinho said after several MLAs brought up the issue during a discussion on grants for the animal husbandry and veterinary services department in the state assembly.

“Our

bullfight

is not like the ones involving matadors. There they kill bulls. Here, we rear bulls for the fight. It does not amount to cruelty. In fact, bullfight is like boxing,” lone NCP MLA Churchill Alemao said.

Despite the ban, which was ordered by the high court of Bombay at Goa, bullfights continue to be organised clandestinely in several villages in Goa, sometimes with the tacit blessings of the local legislator.

The Goa legislative assembly, in 2015, had formed a House committee to explore ways and means to legalise bullfighting within the ambit of the existing laws related to the Prevention of Cruelty to

Animals

Act.

Speaking earlier, Congress MLA Francis Silveira had also voiced his support for the sport by calling it a traditional activity in Goa. Though Silveira called on the state government to bring in some law to legalise the banned sport, his words were expunged from the records on the direction of deputy speaker Michael Lobo.