Guwahati:  A Maharashtra MLA Bachchu Kadu’s proposal to send stray dogs to Assam to control their population has sent local animal rights activists into a fury.

Prahar Janshakti Party legislator Bachchu Kadu during a session of the Maharashtra Assembly last week said that stray dogs should be sent to Assam as a solution to tackle the issue.

He also said that he believed locals in Assam consume dogs.

Kadu’s remark has drawn the ire of animal welfare activists who slammed him for his “inhumane and outrageous” suggestion.

Just Be Friendly or JBF (India) Trust, which runs a hospital for pets and a mortuary for dogs on the outskirts of Guwahati, said Kadu insulted the Assamese community with his proposal.

“We request Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and all national organizations to take necessary steps on this issue. The ministry concerned should also take it up as a dog is not listed as a food animal,”  said Sashanka Sekhar Dutta of JBF India.

“The Maharashtra MLA also mentioned having seen dogs being sold for ?8,000-9,000. He should help the Assam Chief Minister identify the sellers of dog meat, as he mentioned seeing during his stay at a high-end hotel in Guwahati,” Dutta said.

Kadu was one of several MLAs led by Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde, now the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, who had holed up in a hotel in Guwahati during the political crisis in Maharashtra.

Members of the People For Animals (PFA) have also lashed out at Kadu for his “insensitive” comment.

“Such views expressed in an Assembly are an insult to the legislature,” a spokesperson of PFA’s Assam unit said.