New Delhi / Rae Bareli: Hours after a video of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra playing with snakes while interacting with snake-charmers in Rae Bareli gone viral, the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said the Congress leader, being a politician, must meet everybody, but as far as the snakes are concerned, their use is illegal.
Nikunj Sharma, Associate Director of Policy, PETA India said, "it is a crime for anyone to hunt, capture, own, use, harm or kill snakes under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.
Yet snakes are still cruelly captured in suffocating bags, kept in tiny boxes and starved."
In the video, Priyanka Gandhi is seen sitting with snake charmers and talking to them.
Despite the locals warning her, she touched the snakes and even held one in her hand.
The snake charmer squatting, on the ground, were heard complaining to her about their issues.
"We hope she took the opportunity to relay that to this community and would be able to help them to other more lucrative and legal sources of livelihood," added PETA Associate Director.
On April 1, PETA (India) had fired off a letter to the heads of all political parties- at both the national and regional levels -urging them to abide by the Election Commission of India (ECI) new "Manual on Model Code of Conduct" (MMCC) for the 2019 Lok Sabha election, which advises political parties and candidates to refrain from using any animals for election campaigns.
Rae Bareli is Sonia Gandhi's parliamentary constituency and daughter Priyanka has been travelling through the area since Wednesday.
The interaction with the snake charmers took place on Thursday in Purwa village.
Read also: Bihar: Naxals torch 4 vehicles engaged in road construction
