Why Modi’s ‘Inaction’ on ‘Animal Welfare’ is The ‘Darkest Stain’ on an Otherwise Towering Legacy

Let us tell it straight — because sugar-coating this is an insult to every voiceless creature that has walked beside us, trusted us, and suffered because we humans failed to rise.

Before we ask why stray dogs were ordered to be removed from public places… before we question how the Supreme Court could reduce living beings to “nuisance”… we must ask something far more fundamental:

• When did compassion become ‘optional’ in a civilization built on Dharma?
• When did the land of Yudhishthira, Ram, and Buddha become a place where dogs must prove their “right to exist”?
• How did the world’s largest democracy forget the ‘smallest, quietest beings’ who cannot vote, cannot protest, and cannot scream?

And most importantly:

Why did the Prime Minister of India, known for his decisiveness, courage, and bold reforms, choose silence when a simple intervention could have saved millions of lives and won millions of hearts?

A Judgment That Broke the Spine of Compassion

When the Supreme Court ordered the relocation of stray dogs from public spaces into “designated shelters,” something snapped across India.

To anyone who has ever fed a dog, healed a dog, or simply looked into the eyes of a creature that offers unconditional love, that judgment felt like a personal wound. It violated not just Article 51A(g) — our constitutional duty to show compassion — but something far deeper:

It violated Bharatiyata itself.

For thousands of years, India has honored animals not as “street creatures” but as

– companions,
– protectors,
– sacred beings,
– and essential members of our shared ecosystem.

Even the humble shvaana, the Sanskrit word for dog, has held a ‘place of honor’ in our civilizational memory.

When the Pandavas walked their final journey toward the Himalayas, everyone — Draupadi, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva — fell one by one.

Only Yudhishthira continued walking, accompanied by a lone dog who refused to leave his side.

When Indra arrived with his celestial chariot and invited Yudhishthira to ascend to Swarga, the god denied entry to the dog.

And Yudhishthira, the embodiment of Dharma, responded with the same moral fire that shaped his life:

“I will not abandon one who has sought refuge in me, even at the gates of heaven.”

Only then did the dog reveal its true form: Dharma himself, testing the king’s compassion.

In our culture, the dog is not a nuisance. It is a symbol. A test. A companion of Dharma.

And today?

We chase them from the streets like criminals.

The Supreme Court judgment legitimized cruelty in the name of “public inconvenience” and stamped a state-sanctioned fear on beings who have lived on Indian soil longer than most human communities.

But the court alone is not the villain in this story.

A Missed Chance That Will Haunt Modi’s Legacy

Here’s the bitter truth:

Narendra Modi, a leader celebrated for his boldness, completely missed the greatest moral opportunity of his political career.

And this is not a personal attack.

This is a Dharmic critique.

When history demanded courage, silence stepped in.

In 1986, when the Shah Bano judgment granted a Muslim woman maintenance beyond the iddat period, the then-government overturned the Supreme Court verdict overnight — simply to please a vote bank.

One stroke of the President’s pen nullified the highest court of the land.

If appeasement can override justice, why can’t compassion override cruelty?

Here was Modi’s moment —

• to show that Dharma isn’t selective…
• that justice isn’t political…
• that compassion isn’t constrained by convenience…
• and that India’s ancient soul is not negotiable.

He could have issued a ‘presidential ordinance’ safeguarding the rights of stray dogs.
He could have nullified the judgment that criminalized compassion.
He could have delivered a modern Ashokan moment.

But he didn’t.

And that silence will echo far longer than any electoral victory.

The PCA Act: India’s Most Shameful Relic

Let’s call it what it is:

The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (1960) is an insult to 21st-century India.

A law where:

– killing a dog can cost the offender Rs. 50,
– torturing a cow or donkey falls under “petty offences,”
– and burning or beating an animal results in a punishment less than a parking violation.

Nearly 70 years.

– Seven decades.
– Thirteen Prime Ministers.
– Scores of reforms.
– Billions spent on development.

And we still treat animal protection like an afterthought.

Modi had the political capital.
He had the majority.
He had the ability.
He had the global admiration.
He had the narrative power.
But somehow, animal welfare was ‘never’ placed on his list of ‘urgent reforms.’

What Modi Could Have Achieved — Effortlessly

Let’s imagine, for a moment, a different India — an India that could have been created with just one bold Dharmic stroke:

• A Presidential Ordinance Ensuring Stray Dogs’ Right to Live
  
  A direct override of the court judgment — legally valid, morally correct, culturally rooted.
  
  
• A Landmark Animal Welfare Bill
  
  – High penalties
  – Stringent punishments
  – Mandatory shelters
  – National feeding zones
  – Stray dog healthcare framework
  – Sterilization and vaccination drives funded by the centre
  – A national commission for animal rights
  
  This would have been historic.
  
  
• A PM Address to the Nation on Compassion
  
  One speech.
  One message.
  One moment of moral clarity.
  India would have listened.
  And millions would have wept out of gratitude.
  
  
• Winning the Hearts of India’s Silent Majority
  
  Animal lovers are not a “small group.”
  
  They span:
  
  – urban and rural India
  – youth and elders
  – Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs
  – homemakers
  – students
  – working professionals
  – NGOs
  – feeding volunteers
  – activists
  – ordinary citizens
  
  A rare, united moral constituency.       
  Modi could have become their hero.
  Instead… they now feel abandoned.

When Dharma Is ‘Abandoned,’ Nations Lose Their ‘Soul’

In the Mahabharata, Bhishma says:

“A king who protects only humans is half-a-king.”

Because the measure of a civilization

– is not GDP,
– not highways,
– not smart cities,
– not AI missions 

but how it treats those who cannot fight back.

• A society that ignores its dogs will ignore its poor.
• A society that punishes feeders will eventually punish caregivers.
• A society that treats voiceless beings as obstacles is already drifting from Dharma.
• And a leader who misses the chance to correct this misses his greatest spiritual duty.

India ‘Still Waits’ for a Leader Who Will ‘Stand Up for the Voiceless’

Millions of people feed, protect, rescue, heal, and love these beings not for reward, not for recognition — but because it is Dharma.

They embody the India our scriptures speak of.
They carry forward the compassion our Rishis (sages) taught.
They live the truth this nation once stood upon.
But a country cannot depend only on its kind citizens.
It needs leaders who ‘stand’ for those whose cries they cannot hear.

Modi has achieved much — politically, diplomatically, economically. But the ‘greatest blot’ on his otherwise monumental career is this:

• He ‘did not rise’ when the voiceless needed him the most.
• He ‘did not act’ when Dharma demanded intervention.
• He ‘did not protect’ the very beings who trust humans without hesitation.

Modi not standing up for the cause of the voiceless is akin to Bhishma not standing up for Dharma during Draupadi’s disrobement in the king’s court. That single act of ‘inaction’ remained a ‘permanent and indelible blot’ on Bhishma’s personality in an otherwise ‘flawless character.’

Final Thoughts: When the Voiceless Cry, ‘Silence’ Becomes ‘Cruelty’

In a land where even the gods walk with animals, the least our government can do is ensure they are treated with dignity.

This is not a political issue.
This is not a legal issue.
This is not a social issue.
This is a civilizational issue.

And until India reforms its laws, rejects cruel judgments, and embraces compassion, not as charity but as duty, we remain a nation that has forgotten its own soul.

Because in the end:

The measure of a leader is not ‘how tall he stands’ in front of the world, but ‘how low he bends’ to ‘protect the smallest life at his feet.’