Celebs bat for ‘India Unites for Animals’ movement
LUCKNOW: Animal welfare could be one of the issues in the next Lok Sabha election, thanks to animal rights activists and a powerful mass movement – India Unites for Animals – that has gained support of over a lakh people within a week in the form of calls on a toll-free number.
Celebrities like Kapil Sharma, Soha Ali Khan, Kunal Kemu, Simi Grewal, Anju Mahendru and Karan Grover have tweeted in favour of this movement and vowed to make animal rights protection an issue in the next election.
On September 18, animal rights activists would be meeting members of parliament in over 50 cities of India with the sole aim of getting the Animal Welfare Bill passed in the Parliament. The activists would also take an undertaking from the MPs that animal welfare would always be a priority.
Kamna Pandey, co-opt member of Animal Welfare Board of India, said, “Increasing cases of cruelty on animals have been reported but most of times due to insufficient laws, criminals escape with a simple fine. That’s why we ‘compassionate and animal loving people’ have now united as a consolidated and growing vote bank cutting across regional, religious and political lines. We will vote and support candidates based on the declaration of their stand on animals.”
She added, “We are surprised over the overwhelming support to our toll-free number 180030005581, which has already crossed one lakh calls within a week, and over 25,000 signatures on a pledge form and thousands of signatures on online petition.”
The support from celebrities in the form of their video bites, appealing to people to join India Unites for Animals has made us a real pressure group to watch out for, said Pandey. Another animal rights activist Kavita Das said, “Our movement has got support of celebrities and politicians.”