Maneka Gandhi
A few experiences of the many I have had during the first phase of the COVID lockdown. On March 24, I gave my phone number across the country for all animal volunteers. I thought a few organisations would get in touch. Thousands of calls started coming in from people who needed passes for feeding, people who were being accosted by the police while feeding and people who were suffering from the viciousness of RWAs. I am delighted by the coming of age of the volunteer animal movement. Now that we have over a lakh of people across India, the next step is to organise them into legal champions and policy makers.
Some people, to my delight, have become leaders during this time. Two who stand out are Ishita Yadav and Kanika Dewan who handled my communications – so that everyone knew the laws of different states immediately. I spoke to chief ministers and chief secretaries. Barring the Jharkhand and Telengana CMs, all of them understood the need for feeding animals. Naveen Patnaik announced that money for feeding animals would be given to each Nagar Palika and municipality. Chief secretaries were mature and understood what would happen if the street animals were not fed. Except one; the CS of Punjab gave me a long lecture on how I should think of the people first. Even he pales before the harshness of the CS in Telangana who banned passes to feeders altogether.
In every state, police seniors have been wonderful. They were sensible, flexible and compassionate. Of them, three were the commissioners of Delhi, Srivastava; Mumbai’s Paramvir Singh; and Bangalore’s Bhaskar Rao. They helped feeders, changed timings to suit people instead of being rigid, and intervened to solve problems. The DCPs of Mumbai and Delhi have been quick in their responses. While the SPs of Punjab were helpful, their people on the ground, especially Ludhiana, were not.
A special mention of Haryana, where feeders have an easy time. I would like to thank the CM of Haryana for the practical approach he adopted. On the other hand, the street police have been a nuisance. Quick to stop and hit, many were abusive – specially in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Thane. Jharkhand typically thought of a make-money solution and stood on the road, often in plainclothes, threatening to arrest even those who carried passes. I spoke to the SP in one case and it helped. An SHO in Delhi was on the prowl every night to find women feeders, and to take them back to his thana where he sat and chatted with them till midnight. I had to complain three times, as this seemed to be a perversion. He stopped.
The district collectors were equally amazing except for the lady in Mangalore. All the others were kind to me. Chandigarh had the least sense when it came to giving the passes. The official in charge gave passes to each applicant for two hours per day, forcing them to come back daily, go through police pickets, and increase the chances of spreading Corona. The local veterinary hospital, the SPCA, remained closed. A special mention of Tamil Nadu. Business people, hotels and animal groups, like the Blue Cross, joined hands to feed animals. Only the IIT-M in Chennai gave some problems to students who had stayed behind specifically to feed campus animals. Jindal University students, en masse, revolted against the administration’s viciousness until it had to cave in. Some 600 students joined the Animal Welfare Club.
One place stressed me the most was Pune, which has a helpful collector but over 2,000 so-called feeders. Fortunately, Neha Panchamia of ResQ and Puneeta Khanna of PFA took most of my burden. In Bangalore, most feeders spent time fighting with each other and in Thane Mira Road, people took their passes and misused them.
Some actions from the press and society associations which we call RWAs made me sad. The press spread rumours. One channel would do it. I would intervene to ask them to stop; and then another would start. ABP of Kolkata was the worst with a constant tirade against cats. This led to thousands of cats being abused, leading to many deaths. When they stopped, News18 and Dainik Bhaskar took it up. They stopped when doctors pitched in to tell the truth, including India’s head of Community Medicine Dr CK Pandav, and the head of AIIMs Dr Guleria and other experts. Aaj Tak has started accusing dogs of spreading the virus – though not a single dog or cat has contracted it till now. Animal-haters will use this. Local channels like the Siddharth TV in Bangalore and the Print picked up such news. Why has the press been doing this?
The society welfare associations, usually headed by retirees, behaved disgracefully. The system of RWAs should be abolished. It has no legal standing. But that did not stop them from attacking people in their communities for feeding animals, making guards hit all animals, stopping people from coming down to let their animals go to the bathroom even if they cleaned the place, ranting viciously on community facebooks against residents, entering people’s homes and giving them notices to leave etc.
They got even braver when the feeders or keepers of animals were women-only households. It has been like a World War III on every community. When I intervened, , they backed down.
We are now entering Phase 2. The feeders are running out of money. While the demand for passes is more or less over – I now need to ask for less than 20 a day (as compared to 500 a day) – but the RWA cruelties are increasing. And, as people get bored, they look for reasons to be unhappy and fight. Meditate, play cards, read, don’t watch TV, feed birds and animals and above all, be compassionate. The Prime Minister himself has asked you to think of the homeless animals at this time. This is not a world they made. So be kind.
To join the animal welfare movement, contact gandhim@nic.in, www.peopleforanimalsindia.org.