MLA’s stray dogs for Northeast remark dogs Congress now

A Punjab Congress MLA's suggestion that stray dogs should be caught and sent to Northeast states and China "where they are more needed (for their meat)" has invited the wrath of animal lovers who termed it "unethical" even as his party ticked him off.

The suggestion by Sardulgarh MLA Ajit Singh Mofar was condemned BJP leader Maneka Gandhi too, who said it was "derogatory" to the people of the Northeast.

"I find the remark derogatory for the people of Northeast and like coming from an illiterate. Punjab government should take steps like sterilisation programmes," Gandhi said in Delhi. The president of People for Animals Saurabh Gupta said that while the issue raised by Mofar needs to be addressed at the earliest, but the 'solution' suggested by him was not ethical.

"It is inhuman and unethical. Dogs have the right to live as well. If the Punjab government attempts any such thing, we will drag them to court", Gupta said. The Congress too ticked off Mofar. "He (Mofar) is an avid skater and it will be better if he sticks to skating," AICC spokesman Manish Tewari told newsmen in Delhi.

Much to the amusement of the Assembly, Mofar had moved a resolution on Thursday seeking to tackle stray dogs in Punjab by sending them to China, Nagaland and Mizoram for "whatever they do to them".

"We can make arrangements to catch such dogs, put them in jungle or zoos. Maybe we can then send them to Nagaland, Mizoram and China where they are more needed," he said in a veiled reference to the practice in some communities in Northeastern states where dogs are killed for their meat

"Stray dogs are a big nuisance. even going on a walk has become dangerous because of them," he said voicing concern at the sharp rise in cases of dog bites in Punjab, with an estimated 15,000 such cases reported annually.

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