From pigeons to dogs and cows: how animals have sparked unrest in Mumbai

Indian Express

19 hours ago

In recent days, pigeons have emerged as unexpected players in Maharashtra's political discourse, triggering controversy that has pitted sections of the Jain and Marathi communities against each other.
What began as a dispute over bird feeding has escalated into a flashpoint, drawing in leaders across the political spectrum and heating up the state's polity.
However, this isn't the first time animals have catalysed socio-political turmoil in Mumbai.
From pigeons to dogs to cows, animal-related issues have a long and often overlooked history of inciting public unrest and communal agitation in the city.
A riot over dogs
In June 1832, Bombay, as the city was known then, witnessed one of its earliest recorded civil disturbances, sparked not by taxation or colonial policy, but by a dog-culling drive.
The British colonial government had enacted a law in 1813 authorising the culling of stray, ownerless dogs between April 15 and May 15, and September 15 and October 15. However, in 1832, the government extended the culling period until June 15, citing a surge in stray dog numbers.
'The diligence with which the cull was effected in 1832 excited attention. Special police dog-killers were paid the sum of eight annas for dispatching each dog. The dogs were either taken away and killed, or killed in the street and left as garbage… Many of the dogs captured, however, were neither dangerous nor loose, but snatched from private enclosures,' Jesse S Palsetta writes in her paper Mad Dogs and Parsis: The Bombay Dog Riots of 1832.
This aggressive enforcement coincided with a Parsi holy day and the Islamic month of Muharram. The Parsis, who regard dogs as sacred, were outraged by the indiscriminate killing. The payment incentive led to abuse, with dogs being seized even from private homes and sacred spaces.
On June 6, violence broke out in Bombay's Fort area.
'In consequence of a Government order for the destruction of pariah-dogs… Two European constables, stimulated by the reward of eight annas for every dog destroyed, were killing one in the proximity of a house, when they were attacked and severely handled by a mob composed of Parsis and Hindus of several sects,' S M Edwardes writes in The Bombay City Police: A Historical Sketch.
Following this, shops shut down in protest and crowds gathered at the police station, demanding an end to the killings. Tensions escalated the next day.
On June 7, as a citywide strike was enforced, shops and markets shut, Fort access was blocked, and the public harassed British officials. Supply lines to British garrisons were disrupted; carriages carrying British elites, including the Chief Justice, were attacked, and even water supplies were obstructed.
By midday, a crowd of 5,000 people assembled near the Fort's Central Police Station, forcing the British administration to read the Riot Act and deploy British troops to quell the trouble. The protest was forcibly dispersed, and several arrests followed.
While casualties were limited, the political significance of the unrest was immense. The Parsi-led protest, backed by Hindu Vanias, Jains, and Ismaili Muslims, showcased the economic leverage of Bombay's trading communities, who managed to paralyse the city's supply chains and challenge colonial authority.
Cows and communal flashpoints
Over 60 years later, it was the issue of cow protection that pushed Bombay to the brink of communal violence in 1893.
In the years leading up to the unrest, anti-cow slaughter sentiment was steadily building. The Bombay Gaurakshak Sabha had been actively organising rallies and disseminating pamphlets highlighting the sanctity of cows.
R H Vincent, Bombay's then police commissioner, said, 'A large number of pictures and pamphlets showcasing the sanctity of the cow and the ills of cow slaughter were distributed in Bombay.'
Public mobilisations became increasingly visible. In 1891, cows were paraded through city streets in processions. Protests even erupted over incidents where cows accidentally fell into roadside ditches and died, underscoring the heightened religious sensitivity surrounding bovine deaths.
These tensions culminated in communal riots that broke out on August 11, 1893, and violence surged for three days and simmered for nearly a month. Eighty-one people were killed, and 700 were injured before calm was restored.