India, July 3 -- A row has erupted over Bharatiya Janata Party leader and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi's remarks on existing exemptions under India's wildlife protection laws, particularly the exemption granted to Jain monks to allow them to use peacock feathers for pichhis, which is a broom-like whisks used by them to brush away insects without hurting them.

Gandhi's remarks drew ire of Jain organisations which has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to order an inquiry against Gandhi.

On Thursday, Gandhi spoke to media about exemptions in India's wildlife protection laws act and how to act like loopholes that have driven illegal hunting of the country's national bird - peacock.

She emphasised that in 1972, the Wildlife Pr...