Hema Malini raises issue of monkey menace

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 21

BJP’s Mathura MP Hema Malini today raised the issue of monkey menace in religious places and was supported by LJP’s Chirag Paswan and TMC’s MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay who also recounted their personal experiences.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, BJP’s filmstar-turned-politician called monkey menace at religious places a matter of concern about which the government needed to do something.

“People in Vrindavan and Mathura in my constituency have been facing the menace, monkeys snatch things from pilgrims,” she said. While blaming it on deforestation, she said the sterilisation attempts had made them “violent”.

Suggesting setting up of a monkey safari in Mathura for their safety, she said there should be fruit-bearing trees in forests as monkeys had picked up food habits of humans which were not healthy for them. They don’t want fruits but samosas and soft drinks, she also said.

Several members in the House supported her, raising similar concerns. Paswan called monkey menace a matter of concern for people staying in Lutyens Zone in the Capital. “Such is their terror that children cannot play in gardens of their homes located in the Lutyens zone, people are forced to remain inside. All this is also happening as we destroyed their homes (forests) and now they have entered homes,” Paswan said.

Supporting her, TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay recounted how once a monkey snatched his spectacles and returned them only when offered a fruit drink pack.