symbolic release of white doves - the cruel ways at Kovvuru by Congress !

Kovvuru is situated on the west bank of the Godavari River,  famous for the bridge linking Rajahmundry.  It is a truss bridge, reportedly Asia's second longest road-cum-rail bridge crossing a water body, after the Sky Gate Bridge in Kansai International Airport, Osaka. It is second of the three bridges that span the Godavari River at Rajahmundry.

The irony was too much: When Pope Francis and two children released two white "peace doves" at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City about an year ago, the doves were immediately attacked by other birds, losing feathers and being driven away as a huge crowd watched.  Tweets and Facebook posts followed - some of which used words such as "demonic," "omen," and "apocalypse"—and inevitably, of course, referring to "angry birds."

pigeons at Ramakrishna Mutt, Mylapore

We have seen photos of ‘dove release’- our former Prime Minister was associated with roses and doves – a photo of Nehru releasing dove in 1950s taken by HomaiVyarawalla is famous.   Understand that although there are many types of white doves, the ones released in ceremonies, white rock doves, are actually white racing pigeons. Doves and pigeons are part of the same bird family, but people tend to disassociate the two birds; one is thought of as beautiful, the other foul. Whether you refer to them as white racing pigeons or white rock doves, releasing these birds at ceremonies and events carries symbolic meaning.

Symbolically white means peace ! ~~  pigeons and doves are considered symbols fo peace !! – and ceremonially they have been release on important occasions.  The preferred type of release doves are homing pigeons, a member of the rock dove species, and some strains are specifically bred for ceremonial release. White homing pigeons are preferable to ringneck doves for ceremonial release because ringneck doves lack homing ability and may not survive in the wild.When released, those special  doves normally circle the area a few times in formation, then fly back to their home to collect some tiny morsel as gifts !

Upon seeing for a while, people tend to get excited.  They doves are as normal as other birds and are not exactly peaceful. They do fight with each other – over territory rights and others.  …. ..and there is no pure white bird either – they are now white after hundreds of years of domestication, mutation and breeding.

Whatever they, this incident reported at Kovvuru, West Godavari District,  widely in newspapers deserves condemnation strongly.

Congress activists here welcomed Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC)chief N. Raghuveera Reddy to a party meeting by tying live pigeons to Diwali rockets and setting it alight. The rockets went up and the pigeons fell dead, roasted in the intense heat of the cracker burst high above.

Mr.Raghuveera Reddy was at Kovvur along with former minister KondruMurali, RajyaSabha MP K.V. P. Ramachandra Rao, West Godavari district Congress president RafiullaBaig and Mahila Congress president S. Padmasri to attend a party meeting.Local party workers decided to welcome their leader in a novel [cruel] way and they came up with the idea of firing rockets that would release white pigeons up in the sky.The pigeons were stuffed into paper cones and sealed tight so they wouldn’t flutter loose. The idea was to see the cracker burst high in the sky and the pigeons fly free. But the intense heat produced by the cracker burst killed the birds and they fell to the ground.

Taking strong exception to the use of birds, members of the NGO People for Animals and the general secretary of the Asian Wildlife Foundation demanded that a case be booked against the Congress workers.The incident, which occurred on Saturday, invited the wrath of animal rights activists and the ruling Telugu Desam Party. West Godavari police have registered a case against three people and are examining footage of the celebration, it is reported.

Sounds a cruel insane act ! – the local opponents said it bespoke of the mental condition of Congress.  It is further stated that overenthusiastic Congress workers had also tied party flags to the necks of the birds and some stuck paper rolls with `welcome', meant to unfurl once the rockets exploded and released the pigeons.Congress was wiped out in the recent assembly elections in the bifurcated state and the party is desperately making efforts to regain its lost glory. However, frying up pigeons in midair in celebration is unlikely to improve their prospects.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

5^th Oct 2015.