Bird On Protest

A stork has created a storm in the Amethi district of Uttar Pradesh (UP). The bird has refused food and water at the Kanpur Zoo ever since it was separated from its best friend Muhammad Arif.

Thirty-year old Arif of Amethi’s Jodhpur Mandhka village had found the stork in an agricultural field with wounded legs. Over the past year Arif had nursed the stork back to health and left him in the field to fly away to its bird family.

But the bird returned to continue to live with Arif’s family that includes his wife, two children and parents. This is not surprising as examples from times gone by prove that storks love the company of human beings who are kind to them.

Populations living in concrete jungles in urban surroundings may not be aware but storks prefer to build a nest on the roof of homes instead of treetops. For aeons storks have enjoyed an intimate relationship with the host family, mostly in the countryside.

In many cultures a stork is seen as a symbol of nature’s blessing. The bird is believed to bring luck to human beings. Egyptians say that the soul of a stork is human, while Greeks are sure that the stork protects children and the elderly of the family it lives with.

Traditional societies had invited storks to nest in their home. Many families had built a high platform on the roof top to encourage storks to make a nest there. To harass a stork is said to bring bad luck to the cruel.

Yet the Forest Department has separated the stork from Arif for keeping an endangered species as a pet. Arif is being treated like a criminal for nursing a wounded bird back to life. Last week a case was registered against Arif under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. According to the Act a stork cannot be domesticated.

Arif has been in trouble with the authorities ever since the visit of former Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav to his village to meet the stork. The SP is the main opposition party in UP and after news of Akhilesh Yadav's meeting with Arif and the stork had hit the headlines, Forest Department officials took the stork away.

The bird was taken from Arif’s home and released in Rae Bareilly’s Samaspur bird sanctuary. Later it was shifted to the Kanpur Zoo.

The latest news is that the stork refuses to eat or to drink at the zoo. While with Arif, the stork had lived in the open but has been imprisoned now. Meanwhile there is no end to the woes of Arif who has summons from the Forest Department officials to record a statement saying why he had flouted the Wildlife Protection Act?

According to popular opinion, Arif’s intention was not to harm the stork. Instead he took care of the bird when it was in pain and almost dead. The only crime of Arif is that he was not aware of wildlife related laws like most of us.

Political Capital

Politicians from different political parties have spoken in support of Arif.

At a press conference, Akhilesh Yadav praised Arif for taking care of the stork. He made a second visit to see the stork at the Kanpur Zoo in the company of Arif.

When SP legislator Amitabh Vajpayee heard that the stork had stopped eating, he too went to the Zoo with a sack full of grains, and a poster size photograph of Arif. Vajpayee wants the photograph to be displayed in the stork’s den so that the bird feels close to Arif.

“The stork was arrested and brought to the Kanpur zoo. We came to know that the stork is not eating or drinking water. I have a feeling that the stork is not able to bear being imprisoned. He must be yearning for his friend Arif along with the meals that he was offered with much love at home,” Vajpayee told the media.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh said that in UP today it is forbidden to even love birds and where hate is allowed but love is punished. Congress Party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi lauded Arif’s kind attitude towards the bird that was hurt and suffering.

All eyes are on Amethi today also because Priyanka Gandhi may contest the next general elections from this central UP constituency in 2024.

There Is More Drama

In the western part of UP another drama unfolded last week. During the Islamic month of Ramazan it is usual for believers to pray in groups. Zakir Husain had hosted a prayer meeting in the basement of his Moradabad premises in Lajpat Nagar. A group of Bajrang Dal men had barged into the basement to disrupt the prayers.

The Moradabad Police admitted that they had received a complaint about the prayer meeting from residents of the city’s Lajpat Nagar area, which has a mixed population of Hindus and Muslims.

Is it a coincidence that the powerful in UP today are making life difficult for citizens only with names like Arif, Zakir, Muhammad and Husain? Perhaps not, as the 25 year old Neha Singh Rathore has also been sent a notice by the police just for singing songs, while journalist Sanjay Rana was recently arrested for asking UP Minister of State for Secondary Education Gulab Devi questions.

Rana, works for ‘Moradabad Ujala’ a YouTube news channel. A local leader of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the ruling party’s youth wing, filed a complaint against Rana for asking the minister questions. A police case was filed against Rana and he was arrested for a day.

In a video gone viral, Rana is heard reminding the minister of the oath that she had taken in the local temple before the last Assembly elections to adopt the Budh Nagar Khandwa village and to give it better roads. But nothing has been done to improve life in the village in Moradabad district where most citizens had voted for the ruling party.

Once the official programme of the minister was over, a local youth leader of the youth wing of the ruling party had filed a police case against Rana accusing him of multiple offences and calling him a fake reporter.

Rana said that the police had dragged him out of his home as if he had committed a crime. The local journalist fraternity condemned Rana’s arrest and called it a brazen misuse of law, and efforts to intimidate the press and stifle freedom of expression in the area.

Raghunath Singh, Rana’s father is most upset. He has been a long time ruling party worker and it hurts him now to see his son being treated like a criminal simply for doing his job.