Gandhiji hired by Trivandrum Corporation

[Guest guest]

The problem with some of us including the known Gandhians is that we miss

the woods for the trees. The controversy regarding Gandhiji’s ‘endorsement’

of killing the stray dogs was well debated during his own time and the

doubts adequately cleared by the Mahatma himself. Gandhiji asked and probed

in his own way for a better management protocol -not only for the dogs but

the cows too.

 

He wrote:” Cows we cannot protect, dogs we kick about and belabour with

sticks, their ribs are seen sticking out and yet we are not ashamed of

ourselves and raise a hue and cry when a stray dog is killed. Which of the

two is better – that 5000 dogs should wander about in semi-starvation living

on dirt and excreta and drag on a miserable existence, or that 50 should die

and keep the rest in a decent condition?”

 

And this was exactly what he clarified at a time- when ABC stray dog

management was not even thought of; but the great visionary was quite

confident that some definite management plan for curbing the number of these

animals would come up so that these animals should not suffer in the name of

Ahimsa.

 

The problem with the Trivandrum Corporation in Kerala is that it is on the

brink of facing punishment on contempt of court charges for having

deliberately misled the Hon. High Court of Kerala in filing an affidavit

saying that the City Corporation is implementing the ABC Rules 2001-while

they were actually killing hundreds of dogs.

 

The Corporation is now regularly giving press releases stressig on an

inflated number of the stray dog population in the city (and rabies bites)

to add more panic among the public. In a dramatic move they have opened a

rabies clinic in the General Hospital and are pumping lakhs of rupees for

advertisements and short films to make the public more panicky. Well known

film stars are hired for the promotion of a particular brand of rabies

vaccine at the cost of the tax-payer’s money. They have hired even some

members among the State Animal Welfare Board to openly come out for the

killing of strays. One such gentlemen, a retired Central Govt. bureaucrat

once presented this “Gandhian” view during an Animal Welfare Seminar-

sponsored by the State Animal Husbandry Directorate- and waxed eloquently on

killing all stray dogs in the state.

 

This time, it seems, it is a ‘Gandhian’ they have roped in to bail

themselves out from the admonishment of the court.

 

In the meantime the Corporation has admitted in writing to a query as per

R.T.A.Act that there were no rabies cases reported in the city.

 

So these fellows are really mad and using every trade and trick they could

think of to wriggle out of the court case, the “Gandhian strategy” is just

one among these.

 

I invite the attention of all animal lovers to the so called ‘controversial’

writings of our Mahatma in *Young India.*

 

Please compare it with the ravings of the sponsored Goebbelsian propaganda

moguls from the capital city of Kerala

 

*Gandhiji’s writings on the stray dog issue, in his paper Young India. ** *

 

*A mill owner in Ahmedabad, Ambalal Sarabai, had 60 stray dogs killed

outside his mill. Being a Hindu he felt remorse over his actions and went to

Gandhiji. When Gandhiji approved of his deed a huge controversy arose. The

Ahmedabad Humanitarian Society and many other people asked him how he, the

apostle of Ahimsa, could approve of the killing when religions like Hinduism

and Jainism prohibited the taking of life. It is then that he used his paper

Young India to explain what true Ahimsa really meant. ***

 

*Letter to Gandhiji*:

 

“You advocate the destruction of stray dogs. Do you include in the category

the very useful village dogs?”

 

*Gandhiji’s reply:***

 

“Most certainly I do not. The village dogs are the cheapest and most

efficient police we have for protecting villagers against thieves at night

and intruding dogs and other animals during the day. But I have not

advocated an indiscriminate destruction of even stray dogs. Many other

remedies have to be adopted before that drastic measure is resorted to. What

I have insisted upon is a municipal by-law authorizing municipalities to

destroy unowned dogs. This simple legislation will prevent dogs from cruel

neglect and put the Mahajan upon their mettle. It is the indiscriminate and

thoughtless charity which has to be resisted. That charity that feeds dogs

and indeed men who choose to become beggars harms the beggars and the

society which encourages such false charity.”

 

*Letter to Gandhiji*:

 

“You say that if we can neither take individual charge of roving dogs nor

have a pinjrapol for them, the only alternative is to kill them. Does that

mean that every roving dog should be killed, although it may not be rabid?

Don’t you agree that we leave unmolested all harmful beasts, birds and

reptiles, so long as they do not actually harm us? Why should the dogs be an

exception? Where is the humanity of shooting innocent dogs wherever they are

found roving? How can one wishing well to all living beings do this?”

 

*Gandhiji’s reply*:

“The writer has misunderstood my meaning. I would not suggest even the

destruction of rabid dogs for the sake of it, much less that of innocent

roving dogs. Nor have I said that these latter should be killed wherever

they are found. I have only suggested legislation to that effect, so that as

soon as the law is made, humane people might wake up in the matter and

devise better management of stray dogs. Some of these might be owned, some

might be put in quarantine. The remedy, when it is taken, will be once for

all. Stray dogs do not drop down from heaven. They are sign of idleness,

indifference and ignorance of society. When they grow into a nuisance, it is

due to our ignorance and want of compassion. A stray dog is bound to take to

his heels if you do not feed him. The measure I have suggested is actuated

no less by a consideration of the welfare of dogs than by that of society.

It is the duty of the humanitarian to allow no living being aimlessly to

roam about. In performance of that duty it may be his duty once in a way to

kill some dogs.”

 

This is what Gandhi said.