Patna: The Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) move to use horse-carts for its election campaign in Bihar has drawn the ire of animal rights activists. Angry activists have lodged a formal complaint with the Election Commission of India. They have also asked the RJD chief, Lalu Prasad Yadav, to cancel these campaigns and described it as animal torture.
The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), which supports animal rights and opposes all forms of animal exploitation, said the RJD’s plan to use more than 1,000 horses to pull tongas (horse-drawn carriages) during the party’s campaign in the upcoming elections in Bihar goes against the Election Commission of India’s 2012 advisory asking all political parties to refrain from using animals for political campaigns. It has also apprised the Election Commission of its concerns.
“Political parties should try to garner support through ideas, not by parading around vulnerable animals”, said Peta’s India Chief Executive Officer Poorva Joshipura in an email.
“Peta-India is calling for a halt to RJD’s plan to use tongas — and the plans of any political party to use animals — since such use goes directly against the Election Commission of India’s advisory restricting the use of animals during election campaigns,” Joshipura wrote.
Peta officials said animals used in political campaigns are often forced into screaming crowds, which they find terrifying, and since they are easily spooked by loud noises, it creates the risk of serious injury to both the animals and people. They are also beaten, forced to carry loads in excess of their physical capacities and denied adequate food and water.
Last month, following meetings with Peta-India after a horse was reportedly crushed by National Students’ Union of India supporters, the student wing of the Indian National Congress issued a circular to all its units across India advising them not to use animals in any political rallies, functions or events.
However, the RJD has a different viewpoint. It says the idea is not only eco-friendly but also seeks to provide temporary employment to a fairly good population who eke out their livelihood by running horse-carts, a profession that faces extinction.
The RJD has asked its leaders to extensively use tongas, a light, horse-drawn, two-wheeled cart, for poll campaigning as a counter to the high-tech campaigns by the opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party. It says the horse carts can go to areas where the BJP’s high-tech publicity vans nicknamed “Parivartan Raths” (chariots of change) cannot, and asked its leaders to hire at least 50 horse-carts in each of the total 243 assembly constituencies of Bihar.
Earlier, Peta-India took serious issue with a former Jharkhand minister, Suresh Paswan, who sacrificed more than 50 goats at a temple when he became a minister.
