When Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann tweeted late Thursday night that his government would launch a “massive campaign” starting Friday to “eliminate stray and killer dogs”, animal lovers across the country erupted in fury. Within an hour, the hashtag #SavePunjabDogs was trending No. 1 globally on X, with crores pushing back against what they saw as dangerous misreading and brazen misuse of the Supreme Court’s May 19 order on community dogs.Wading into the storm, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, National Chairperson of People for Animals, former union minister and senior BJP leader, today questioned the Punjab CM’s pitch. Arguably India’s most formidable voice on animal welfare, Maneka, in an exclusive phone interview with The Tribune, her first in some years, corrected what she described as “wilful distortion of the SC order” and laid out solutions to the vexed issue.EXCERPTSQ: What exactly does the May 19 Supreme Court order say?The Supreme Court has simply repeated its November order. Animals can be fed. Feeders cannot be harassed. No animal can be relocated from its territory. Animals can be moved to shelters only if picked up from hospitals, bus stops, colleges or railway stations — and only if shelters actually exist. ABC centres have to be created in every district. No dog can be euthanised except a rabid one — and even then, three veterinarians must certify in writing that the dog is rabid. No dog can be removed for being “dangerous” unless it is on record that it has bitten three people without provocation. Municipalities must designate feeding spots. There is absolutely nothing else.Q: Why this noise that mass euthanasia is being permitted?Because “euthanasia” was a new word and there was nothing else new in the order. But the order says nothing beyond “follow the laws”. The laws are extremely clear. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act — the parent Act governing all of this — permits euthanasia only for incurably ill or confirmed rabid dogs, strictly under prescribed veterinary protocols. A healthy dog cannot legally be picked up and killed. The existing statutory framework does not allow blanket killing of community animals. Period.Q: Why do you think CM Mann made this announcement in the manner that he did?Probably because it was past 9 at night. This is the same man who, the moment he became Chief Minister, announced that no government servant could keep a dog at home. When bureaucrats, police and the entire local administration objected, he had to withdraw the order. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lost more than 40 seats in the Delhi municipal elections after it announced it would rid the city of all animals — that is their own internal paper conclusion. Now they will face the same reckoning in Punjab’s upcoming civic elections. They fundamentally misunderstand the soul of India. Even people afraid of dogs do not want animals killed. Within one hour of his tweet, anger at Mann was trending No. 1 globally — that means crores of people. And not a single member of his party or administration was consulted beforehand. He should not be allowed on social media after 8 pm.Q: Do you think the SC directions will be implemented?No. These same orders were given in November. Every state Chief Secretary was threatened with contempt by the judges. Seven months later, not a single state or municipality has done anything. Railways cannot remove dogs because thousands of people carry food onto platforms and hundreds of food stalls operate there. Bus stops have no dogs — there is no food, they are open spaces. Hospitals have refused because every poor patient arrives with ten relatives who wait outside and feed animals. And 54,000 colleges and universities have such powerful animal welfare movements among students that no institution wants to be seen as uncompassionate.No government can build shelters without acquiring large tracts of land. The Government of India has not put a single rupee into this programme. The only city that tried mass removal — Hyderabad — destroyed its entire sterilisation programme by filling cages with healthy dogs, then had to stop when the city erupted in anger.Q: Do you see the SC siding with those seeking the removal of dogs?Please stop misrepresenting the Supreme Court. The Court has not permitted blanket killing or mass euthanasia anywhere in India. The court’s 131-page judgment and its larger framework repeatedly emphasise structured implementation of the Animal Birth Control programme as the very first step. Then identification of institutions. Then appointment of nodal officers. Then mapping dog populations. Then building proper boundary walls and fencing. Then creation of shelters. Only after all of that do you reach the stage of picking up dogs — and even then, from specific identified locations only, not everywhere. And even then, dogs must first be sterilised and vaccinated, because shifting unsterilised dogs is scientifically pointless and completely useless.Where are Punjab’s ABC centres? Where is the holding infrastructure? Where are the veterinarians, the shelters, the nodal officers, the district-wise mechanism the court mandated? You cannot jump from Step 1 to Step 9 because it suits a political narrative. You cannot ignore sterilisation, vaccination, infrastructure and science, and suddenly announce mass killings. That is not governance. That is theatre.Q: What is the solution?Simple. India has 780 districts. Create 780 sterilisation centres. Train 780 NGOs using the four existing training centres — Lucknow, Dehradun, Ooty and Jaipur.Right now the sterilisation programme is the most corrupt programme in India. Over 100 untrained business mafia groups bribe health officers to win contracts across dozens of districts. They perform one sterilisation and claim payment for 100. Government figures for sterilisations in many districts actually exceed the total number of dogs in those districts. Blacklist them all. Give one trained NGO one district, create a monitoring committee, and within two years you will see massive reduction in both dog population and bites.Q: How does sterilisation reduce bites?A sterilised dog does not bite unless you relocate it. A relocated dog becomes frantic — it has no food, it is attacked by local residents and local dogs because it is a stranger on their turf. In the last ten years, municipality catchers have been taking money from wealthy RWAs and government colonies to remove dogs and dump them in poor colonies. Relocation is the only reason dog bites have spiked. Dogs must be returned to their own territories after the operation. That one correction alone will transform the situation.Q: Are you optimistic about the future?I have a deep, unshakeable faith in the kindness and gentle soul of India. This is not a country built on cruelty. We have governments manufacturing fear, and the media falls for it chasing headlines. But this will stop once the ABC programme is properly funded and corruption is curbed.People may demand solutions — and they deserve solutions. But they will not accept cruelty masquerading as governance. Punjab is the land of the Gurus. Its soul is daya — compassion. Gurudwaras feed millions without discrimination. Kindness towards every living being is considered strength there. The idea that Punjab will silently accept mass killing and bloodshed on its roads — I do not believe that. The conscience of Punjab is bigger than hate. And the conscience of India is bigger than cruelty.