PETA’s Person of the Year Award Goes To …

Drum roll, please! Can you guess PETA’s Person of the Year?

Here are some clues:

She has won countless hearts through her acting skills. Her magnificent dance performances have been appreciated by many classical gurus and dance lovers worldwide. In 2000, she was presented with the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. Her contribution to Indian society has won her the honour of the Padma Shri Award.

Yes, we are talking about the eternal beauty Hema Malini. For repeatedly raising her voice to oppose cruelty to animals and for her staunch commitment to a humane vegetarian diet, veteran actor and politician Hema Malini has been named Person of the Year by PETA India.

Hemaji has used her prestige time and time again to speak up for all the voiceless animals whose abuse and oppression might otherwise go unnoticed.

Her efforts to bring about positive changes for animals in India include her heartfelt appeal this year to the Ministry of Environment and Forests on behalf of PETA India urging them to ban jallikattu. Soon after, the Ministry issued a notification in The Gazette of India stating that bulls can no longer be used as “performing” animals. This decision means an end to the cruel “sport” of jallikattu, in which terrified bulls are kicked, punched, jumped on, dragged to the ground and otherwise tormented.

The “Basanti” has also come forward to help horses by urging the city of Mumbai to ban horse-drawn carriages. In November, the Mumbai High Court issued a landmark decision cracking down on unlicensed stables housing horses used to pull carriages. This is expected to mean the end of the use of horse-drawn carriages on Mumbai roads.

A strict vegetarian, Hemaji is the embodiment of the kindness and determination to effect positive social change that PETA India stands for!

Congratulations, Hemaji! Thank you for being such a positive inspiration.