Why the argument that dog lovers are ‘elite’ is flawed

A vocal minority of liberal elites are protecting dogs at the cost of the silent dog-oppressed majority. That’s what the central government, through Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, told the Supreme Court on August 14. Mehta was tweaking the Narendra Modi government’s favourite line: that the majority supports sweeping and harsh moves, like bulldozer “justice”, and only the elite “Khan Market Gang” is whining about human rights, civil liberties and due process.

What is troubling is that many who oppose the arbitrary and illegal bulldozer demolitions as summary justice are singing the same tune as Mehta when it comes to the Supreme Court’s order on removing stray dogs from Delhi’s streets and housing them permanently in shelters.

They say that elite “dog lovers” are silent when it comes to atrocities against the poor and oppressed human beings. They share images of children savaged by dogs and declare that to oppose the Supreme Court order is to defend such savagery.

The notion that it is “elites” who care for street dogs is itself elitist, making working class people invisible. Why can’t these dog-lovers take stray dogs into their own homes, asked Justice JB Pardiwala, one of the Supreme Court judges who issued the order.

This begs the question: what is a “stray...

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