FLYING SOLO Ð THE MANEKA GANDHI INTERVIEW

[Guest guest]

Link: http://www.animal-lib.org.au/more_interviews/maneka/

 

FLYING SOLO Ð THE MANEKA GANDHI INTERVIEW

 

By Claudette Vaughan. First published in Vegan Voice.

 

Maneka Gandhi is doing for the animals of India what Mahatma Gandhi

did for the people. Maneka Gandhi is one of India's most forthright

and remarkable figures. She is a leading environmentalist, animal

activist and a crusader for vegetarianism. She, herself, is vegan, an

author, political commentator, columnist, television and radio

personality. The media continue to have a love/hate relationship with

her yet headlines often refer to her just as " Maneka " and Indians

know exactly who they mean. She has been called a foe of corruption

and is the energetic founder of India's leading animal advocacy

group, People for Animals.

 

Maneka Gandhi's life has been steeped in politics. She married Indira

Gandhi's son who was killed in a plane crash. Her adult son, Varun,

recently become involved in politics. Such is his natural charisma

and political inclination it has been speculated that he will become

Prime Minister of India one day.

 

During Maneka Gandhi's rein in Parliment she was often quoted

thoroughly on subjects that most others in public life dare not

address. Her outspokenness in condemning the biomedical industry cost

her dearly and she was discharged from her ministry position.

Unapologetic and unfazed, she continues her crusade against the

biomedical community i.e. " Primates have been pickled in cages here

for 18 years " . Here this irrepressible woman gives an exclusive

interview to Vegan Voice. Her special interests are: writing, animal

rights and welfare, environmental protection and the study of law.

She loves reading and gardening in her spare time. Her most recent

project has been to produce cruelty-free ahimsa peace silk. (see

pageÉ)

 

Let it not be over-looked that almost by the sheer force of her

personality alone, Maneka Gandhi inspired as much by example, as

spokesperson, the rise and rise of a dynamic modern-day Indian animal

rights movement.

Q1. Last year you traveled around Australia to highlight the plight

of the dancing bears of India. Why did you come and why is the need

dire?

 

A. No animals belongs to a country. Animals are a nation in

themselves with their own tribes and languages. Therefore , as much

as we would seek to intervene in a situation where atrocities are

being committed on a defenceless innocent people, the world needs to

come to the aid of a species that is being brutally treated in a

country.

 

The bears of India are taken when they are babies, mutilated, their

parents shot, starved, beaten, made to dance on hot coals, tortured

every single day of their lives and finally sold for dog-bear fights

in Pakistan or for their gallbladders, hair for bracelets or pelts in

Nepal. Many of them die here of tuberculosis, even rabies. This has

happened for several hundred years, started by the Mughal empire

which organised animal shows as the Romans did. Now these bears are

severely endangered and need to be taken away and put into

sanctuaries. However the government has made the peculiar stipulation

that they must be " bought " from the poachers at the rate of $2000 a

bear! No one in India has the money. Therefore it was imperative that

we make people all over the world aware. Mary Hutton of Free the

Bears, in Perth wanted me to come to help with the awareness and

fundraising which I why I came to Australia.

 

I am happy to have come. I met so many unselfish giving people. We

collected enough money for about 70 bears to be rescued (we need to

pick up 1200) and they have gone into a sanctuary near Agra. It was

important for Mary also to know how much we in India appreciated her

generosity and dedication to a species in another country.

Q2. You have been instrumental in changing the laws of India to make

the rehabilitation of these bears possible. Is that correct?

 

A. There are many laws and practices that I have changed , but I

cannot claim credit for this one.

 

The laws were always against the poaching of these bears and against

their dancing. However, because they are poached by a minority

community, the Muslims, everyone was reluctant to create a situation

where they would respond not as the criminals they are but as "

Muslims " being hard done by. In fact all the illegal street

entertainment animals - the snakes, monkeys, bears, birds are run by

Muslims in India. The ban exists. the question is of being determined

enough to implement it. That is where the lacuna lies. The fact that

we have to buy a bear is like buying your television back from the

thief who stole it.

Q3. You have been for years on a collision course with animal

research labs in India. Is it true that you were removed from your

position as Minister for animal welfare for that reason?

 

A. Animal based research in India is basically a scam. Recently an ad

came out from the All India Institute of Medical Research, the

largest government lab, saying that they had 150 monkeys but they did

not have any " projects " to " use them up " so would people write in!

We have spent billions on our " research " . In 55 years we have not got

a single patent for any medical discovery. We use our animals

basically for contract research - someone in America gets a research

grant, finds that he cannot afford to buy the monkeys, dogs etc there

so he " subcontracts " to India for one hundredth of the amount. Our

lab goes onto the street and picks up a monkey or dog for free and

then does unspeakable things to it because it is " free " . Can you

imagine that we do not have a single educational course for

laboratory attendants. I started something called the Committee for

the Purpose of Control and Supervision on Animals. We made rules on

labs for the first time. When we started checking the labs, we found

them in such terrible condition that there was no way that any

research could have gone on in there. Basically it was huge numbers

of government scientists ( anyone with a basic degree in science is a

scientist) scamming money in the name of research; terrible dingy

rusted tiny cages with animals dying of hunger and disease with no

electricity or water. All the superspecialty labs were no better,

thousands of rats in one oil drum breeding with each other and eating

each other's bodies. To just give one statistic: the Lancet magazine

writing on Indian research said that the premier research laboratory

had not written up the research papers of what they did for the last

20 years - and that, after getting billions and killing thousands of

animals every year. They simply forgot to write down anything on

paper! Many of them get jobs in labs because of nepotism and then

they invent projects. Pharmacy colleges - which do not need to test, -

still do it because of some archaic laws. Companies that make

injections, still have to test each one on a rabbit because of a law

made in 1920. We are the only country making anti rabies vaccines

from live sheep brains and these is a story of huge torture in

itself. So when I started moving , so many vested interests - the

scientists who were being exposed, the suppliers of labs and animals

to labs , private contract research companies - joined hands with

ignorant members of the government to protest against " Maneka

Destroys Medical Research in India " No public debate asking them

which medical research had been destroyed brought any answers.

 

In fact on the 19th of March, the Ministry for Environment and

Forests which has now taken over the animal Welfare Ministry has

knuckled under the Ministry for Health, which is virtually owned by

private multinational companies. They are holding a meeting to see

whether the CPCSEA cannot be dissolved and scientists who

are " responsible people, after all " left to self regulation. The

elections are on at the moment so let us see what happens after that.

Q4. While travelling around Northern India a few years ago two images

in particular stayed with me. One was an elderly homeless woman,

living at the railway station with no where to defecate, sharing all

she had---half a chapatti -- with a street dog. The other image was

watching a downtrodden donkey, clearly struggling to haul large

boulders through the market place, with the family seated on top of

the boulders. I remember thinking 'These woman and animals are being

worked into the ground until they die of exhaustion'. Can you comment?

 

A. Of course, it is interlinked. All cruelty starts with the person

being cruel to an animal , because he has to demonstrate his power.

then it goes on to children and women. Violence becomes all

encompassing. If you condone it on animals , then do not expect a

peaceful, equitable society.

Q5. Do you think Asia is mindful of western agricultural

materialistic values contaminating their world.ÑIs Asia going down

the road of massive intensified farming practices? New farming

disasters will be encountered that we in the west are now

experiencing due to our lack of foresight and greed. There is nothing

proud to emulate but what is the solution to stop it occurring in

India?

 

A. Yes, we are going down the same path. For 50 years our government

has put huge stress on teaching the farmers to abandon age old

practices and adopt chemicals. When India had only one government

channel of TV, that's all it talked about. There are villages in

India that have no schools but they know all about the pesticides to

be used (not how to use them) - because they have been invaded by

chemical pesticide sellers. Now we have Monsanto all over. In 50

years inspite of our switch to these chemicals, we have produced just

as much food as we always did but our waters are all polluted and

30,000 people die from direct poisoning by chemical sprays, not to

mention the ones that die from the contaminated food. We have lost

hundreds of varieties of rice and lentils and vegetables. At one

stage we had over 100 varieties of vegetables ( basic varieties, not

different forms of potatoes e.g.) No one except a few tribals can

even remember their names now. All advice to stop going on this path

is seeing as retrograde - going " back to a jungle system that will

keep people poor " . This is an area where animal welfare activists

should be very active in. For instance vultures now are almost

extinct and we find it is because of a chemical dichlorofen which

gets into the feed fed to animals and then into their carcasses and

then kills the vultures that eat the carcass.

 

Unfortunately we are going through a period of " globalisation " where

everything that is intrinsically of value to us is being discarded as

old fashioned and unnecessary. We are going to end up being far

poorer and more violent and ignorant that we ever were.

 

For instance, when Bird Flu hit Asia, most Indians stopped eating

chicken. The Poultry Industry paid politicians who were vegetarian

who come out and say that poultry eating was important because it was

part of the national effort for globalization!

Q6. The traditional image of India and her treatment of animals she

is often projected as a cow-revering country where the elephant and

the monkey are worshipped due to Hindu religious beliefs. Is this a

romantic view? Is Indian's respect for animals becoming corroded by

western values?

 

A. Not so much by western values as by overcrowding which always

brings in violence and ignorance. And by a belief system now

perpetuated by the new fast food market and multinationals in India

that eating flesh is " modern " and that animals are " nuisances " that

should be removed to make India as clean as Germany or England. We

have companies that have come to India to breed ostriches and emus

and ducks for pate - all for export. We pride ourselves on being the

largest egg,chick, meat and leather exporters in the continent - all

multinational companies. We are amazed that we are feeding one

seventh of the meat industry in Europe with our soybean. We fail to

see how our land, water, forest and rain have so been degraded that

in the last 5 years our weather has changed drastically and with

that, so many more people are hungry.

 

If everyone revered the cow, what a lovely world it would be - clear,

intelligent and ruled by logic and reverence. The elephant and the

monkey need to be revered as well, because they, amongst so many

other animals, keep our forests alive and because of the forests we

have rain and because of the rain, I am alive.

Q7. Your next big battle is to get animal sacrifices banned in India.

How is that going?

 

A. It really is on the run now. But it will be another 10 years

before we are done. One Chief Minister in Tamil Nadu, a state,

banned, thanks to our movement, all animal sacrifices in her

state.Then, as soon as the election was announced last month, she

declared the ban was over. One group of people celebrated by killing

1000 goats and drinking their blood. So it's an uneven process, often

marred by politicians. But we are wining this one, godwilling

Q8. What can we do to help you and your organization, People for

Animals?

 

A. Become vegetarian! Write letters to the Prime Minister or to the

local embassy when you see something that can be put right in India

when you come as tourists - like the bears on the road. Contact

scientific organizations and ask them to protest about the conditions

of labs. get a ban put on leather items from India. Stop supporting

the Tibetan struggle until the Tibetans stop poaching animals from

India (go to Tibet and you will see panther and tiger pelts hanging

openly in their shops. I know this is a controversial statement but

most Tibetans that have taken refuge in India are the couriers to

China, Pakistan and Nepal of wild animals)... there are hundreds of

things. We could see our website www.peopleforanimals.org and see if

you would like to contribute. We run 21 shelters and really, at the

end of the day, its money that we need for everything!

Maneka On Vegetarianism in India:

Around 50% of Indians are vegetarians. Vegetarianism is regarded as

elegant. All the rich are vegetarian. All the main politicians are

vegetarian. The Prime Minister and all the Ministry are vegetarian.

The heads of companies are usually vegetarian. It's regarded as an

elegant thing to do. Meat-eating is regarded as gross. Even meat

eaters will apolise and will say " oh we don't eat meat at home " ,

or " we only eat it twice a week " -always apologising.

Maneka on Australia:

Meat-eating is the reason for Australia's drought. It's the reason

why this beautiful Australian continent has been laid to waste and

why you lost more species than any other continent has in the

shortest amount of time possible.

Maneka on India's Biomedical laboratories:

While millions of animals have been killed in the name of research in

India, almost 90% of this research has been useless and has been

unnecessary duplication of research done abroad.

Maneka on alternatives to vivisection:

I urge science policy makers to review the use of animals as models

of human disease for accountability and scientific rigor in the light

of modern medical discovery; particularly knowledge derived from the

human genome, current thinking in evolutionary biology and evidence

from research data, epidemiology, clinical trials and post-marketing

drug surveillance