For much of 2015, the cow was at the centre of Indian political discussion, after several states imposed beef bans or threatened to. This year, the horse has joined India's political menagerie.

Three days after an Uttarakhand police horse was injured after allegedly being assaulted during a protest organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Dehradun, a party worker was arrested on Thursday in connection with the incident. BJP legislator Ganesh Joshi, who has been accused of beating the horse with a lathi, said he would chop off his leg if found guilty.

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Joshi had led a protest march on Monday against the Harish Rawat's Congress government and mounted police had been deployed to maintain law and order. Video footage of the protest shows Joshi swinging a baton. Later shots show the horse collapsing. Party worker Pradeep Bora has been arrested for allegedly trying to pull down the police horse, 14-year-old Shaktiman, which suffered multiple fractures to its hind leg.

The BJP has repeatedly denied attacking the animal, insisting that he hit the ground with the lathi, not the horse. He claimed that he was being framed as part of a political conspiracy. He claimed that the "Congress can even get the horse killed to score points".

Even as Joshi was booked under the the Prevention of Animal Cruelty Act, BJP Union minister Maneka Gandhi has demanded that he be expelled for the attack.

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After visiting Shaktiman on Wednesday, Joshi offered to adopt the horse.

While doctors had initially said that the horse was recovering well, the police said on Thursday that Shaktiman's leg was being amputated to stop the spread of gangrene.

The incident has served as fodder for cartoonists and the social media world,. Here's a selection.