Amid Amul's announcement to sell its milk and curd in Karnataka, after JD(S) leader, the Congress joined the row terming it as a move to "finish off" Nandini brand of Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) in the state.
Former Chief Minister and JD(S) leader H. D. Kumaraswamy has called upon people to oppose the move of selling Amul milk in the state and was joined by Congress, which has started a campaign in the state against the sale of Amul milk and other products.
Opposition leader Siddaramaiah charged that after "swallowing" the banks built by our people in the name of merger, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are now all set to close down Nandini brand, which is lifeline of Karnataka farmers.
Siddaramaiah further said, "All Kannadigas should pledge not to buy Amul products."
He added, "In addition to language treason by the imposition of Hindi and land treason by trespassing within the state borders, now the BJP government is going to betray the farmers by shutting down Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), which is the livelihood of millions of dairy farming families in the country."
State Congress President D. K. Shivakumar said Amul brand is being "imposed" on the state. He had charged that the objective behind this is progress of Gujarat and to "finish off" Karnataka brand.
JD(S) leader H. D. Kumaraswamy has openly called for resistance by the people of Karnataka to oppose the move to sell Amul milk in the state after Amul's tweet on last Wednesday on its entry to Bengaluru -- with the hashtag "LaunchAlert."
"Amul is being pushed into Karnataka from backdoor with the support of the Central government. The Amul is strangulating the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) and the farmers. Kannada people should rebel against Amul," Kumaraswamy said.
"We as Kannadigas should oppose Amul and protect the interest of Karnataka farmers unitedly. Our people and customers should use Nandini products on priority and save the livelihood of farmers," he stated.
Origin of Amul
In fact, the origin of Amul is traceable to farmers who rebelled against the monopoly of British-supported Polson during the 1940s. Farmers of two Gujarati villages joined hands, formed a cooperative in 1946 to emerge as the most competitive indegenous milk brand.
After Independence, Amul emerged strong to resist Bombay Milk's monopoly with technical upgradation, pasteurization of milk and finally replacing Polson's monopoly in Bombay. The union's objective was to provide proper marketing facilities for the local milk producers and it saw success under Verghese Kurien before taking a pan-India shape under the white revolution.
But now, Amul is emerging as a monopoly in the country to takeover Karnataka's own "Amul model" Nandini under Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), which both Congress and JD(S) are opposing.
Hotels join call to defend Nandini
The issue has further boiled down to the market when the Bruhat Bengaluru Hotels Association said Kannadigas should only promote Nandini milk products.
"We are all proud of Karnataka's Nandini milk produced by our farmers and it should be encouraged. In our city, clean and delicious coffee stands as the backbone of snacks. And we encourage it with great pride. It is being heard that milk from other states is being shipped to Karnataka recently. We are all Nandini," read a statement from Bruhat Bengaluru Hotels Association.
BJP defends
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday said that Congress is doing politics over the issue.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Bommai said: "There is no need for anyone to get concerned about Amul brand. We will initiate steps to make brand Nandini more competitive. Nandini will become number one brand in the country."
State Health Minister K. Sudhakar said the BJP government has given subsidy to state's milk producers. It has given Rs 5 for every litre of milk to farmers as subsidy. The system is made in such a way that farmers are given benefits out of income of KMF.
"Nandini brand is not confined to Karnataka. The Nandini milk is sold to the army, Tirupathi, Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra states," Sudhakar pointed out.
"Other brands are being sold in the state from long time. Is Amul a BJP brand and Nandini a Congress brand," Sudhakar asked.
(With inputs from IANS)
