The State government’s July 9 decision to cull ‘rabid and dangerous stray dogs’ has triggered a worldwide campaign that is going viral online with the hashtag ‘#BoycottKerala’.
The campaign, which has in fact turned into a ‘Hate Kerala’ call as well, goes also by the hashtags ‘#KeralaDogCulling’ and ‘#BoycottKeralaTourism’ and even ‘#BoycottKeralaProducts’, indicating that the protest was in fact attacking the State’s tourism industry to garner support for the threatened canines.
According to a Facebook page of the campaign, protests will be staged at several spots across the globe on July 26, with protest venues being finalised already in at least 10 Indian cities and as many international spots. The Indian cities include Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Goa, Indore and Bengaluru, while the foreign venues include Hyde Park in London, Chicago, Boston, New York, Houston, Seattle, Sao Paulo in Brazil, Berlin in Germany and Italy.
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The campaigners, some of whom quote the Animal Welfare Board of India’s reported statement against the Kerala government decision, call the culling decision ‘unconstitutional and barbaric’, and ask fellow-campaigners to “hit Kerala where it hurts – their tourism”. The campaign would not stop until the government stopped the ‘mass slaughter’, they say.
Interestingly, there are attempts to counter the campaign as well.
In fact, Shashi Tharoor, MP, tweeted (@ShashiTharoor) on Wednesday saying that “Keralites may not have handled stray dogs well, but that's no reason to hate the State.” He has also shared a petition asking to stop the hate campaign.
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