Maneka Gandhi Demands BJP MLA’s Expulsion After Attack on Horse

BJP has denied charges and the video footage from TV channels as well as eyewitness accounts are being analysed.

Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat inquiring about the health of Horse. (Photo: ANI)

A day after Uttarakhand BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi was booked for attacking a horse, Union Minister and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi on Wednesday said she has written to the party demanding his expulsion.

“I have given a statement asking for his expulsion from BJP,” Gandhi, who also runs animal welfare organisation ‘People For Animals’, said.

Another animal welfare group, PETA, has written to BJP president Amit Shah and Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal urging them to investigate the matter and disqualify Joshi.

PETA has urged Uttarakhand police to expedite their investigation and to ensure everyone who was involved in hitting, harassing or causing ‘Shaktiman’ (horse) to fall is punished to the fullest extent of the law. We have also written to BJP President Amit Shah and the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha Speaker urging them to investigate the matter, and to disqualify MLA Ganesh Joshi.

Manilal Valliyate, member of the organisation

Mussoorie MLA Joshi has been booked for beating the police horse with a stick during the party’s protest on 14 March.

The legislator, however insisted that he had not inflicted injury on the horse, and that it had gone out of control during the protests and one of its hind legs got stuck in a hole dug up to put up the barricades, injuring it.

The beast underwent a surgical procedure on Tuesday to fix one of its hind legs.

Although BJP has denied the charges. Video footage from around 20 TV channels as well as eyewitness accounts are being analysed to put together the sequence of events leading to the animal getting injured.

According to The Times of India sources in Uttarakhand police, Shaktiman’s rider has told his seniors that Joshi had indeed attacked the horse, though the actual injury to the leg may have been caused when the horse hit a rod, lost its balance and fell. As per the rider’s account, after Joshi hit the horse and the mob followed suit, it started stepping back. When some members of the mob caught its reins, it hit a rod lying there and fell.

Also read: BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi Denies Attack That Left Police Horse Injured