Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 9: An attempt by Anand-based Gujarat Milk Marketing Federation to enter Karnataka with its famous “Amul” brand of milk and milk products may backfire for the ruling BJP in the poll-bound state.
Being coming from the home state of the prime minister Narendra Modi and the union home minister Amit Shah, the move is being viewed as the Centre’s attempt to take over the state brand “Nandini” produced by the Karnataka Milk Federation.
A tweet from dairy giant Amul four days back has snowballed into a political storm in poll-bound Karnataka with bitter attacks against the ruling BJP. It started with an announcement that Gujarat-based Amul will start online deliveries in Bengaluru, upsetting those associated with the state’s own formidable dairy brand, Nandini.
The Congress and JD(S) leaders, after speculations of a merger between the KMF and Amul accused the BJP of “evil plans” and “conspiracy” to destroy the state’s own brand. They have even asked Amit Shah, who is also Cooperation Minister and hailing from Gujarat, to conduct a referendum in Karnataka on whether Amul should be allowed to enter the southern state’s market. Hashtags like #GoBackAmul, and #SaveNandini have been trending on Twitter since Amul’s announcement of its entry into the Karnataka market.
Amid the political slugfest, the Bruhat Bengaluru Hotel Association has urged hotels in the capital city to use the products of local brand Nandini. P C Rao, President of the Association, has directed all hotel owners to support the brand Nandini and the state’s dairy farmers by using their products.
Rao said, “We are not completely against Amul, but only opposing their move to sell milk and curd products in the Karnataka market, which can threaten our local Nandini brand. Amul already has a big market across India. It is the Association’s social responsibility to protect the interests of the dairy farmers, especially women, by using Nandini’s milk and curd products.”
The Association will also hold a meeting this week with hotel owners to create awareness about using Nandini’s curd and milk products and boycotting Amul’s products.
The Opposition leaders like JD(S)’s H D Kumaraswamy and Leader of Opposition Siddaramiah have attacked the Karnataka BJP government for destroying the ‘state’s pride’, Nandini brand with the Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai defending Amul’s entry into the dairy market and downplayed any threat to Nandini. “There should not be any politics over Amul’s entry. Nandini products are sold in other states too. The government will take steps to make Nandini competitive with Amul, in the open market. However, we will not block the entry of Amul,” said Bommai. Nandini’s milk costs Rs 39 compared to Amul Taaza, its cheapest product, priced at Rs 72 per litre.
Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramiah said, “All Kannadigas should pledge not to buy Amul products.” “All Kannadigas have to unanimously resist the usurpation of the KMF, which has been built for the welfare of the farmers of the country. All Kannadigas should pledge not to buy Amul products”, Siddaramiah said.
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.”
Siddaramiah on Sunday also hit out at the Prime Minister, who is on a visit to Karnataka. “You have already stolen banks, ports & airports from Kannadigas. Are you now trying to steal Nandini (KMF) from us? Instead of giving 2 crore jobs a year to our youths, @narendramodi took away the jobs of Kannadigas from our banks, ports & airports. Now @BJP4Karnataka wants to hurt the prospects of our farmers by giving KMF to AMUL,” Siddaramiah tweeted.
The Congress has accused Prime Minister and the Home Minister, both from Gujarat, of trying to get Amul into the state “through the back door” as merger attempts were apparently not successful.
The state Congress chief DK Shivakumar said there was no need for an outside brand as Nandini was a “better” brand than Amul. “We want to protect our milk and our farmers. We already have Nandini which is a better brand than Amul…We don’t need any Amul…our water, our milk, and our soil is strong,” Shivakumar said.
The Janata Dal (Secular) has also slammed Amul for allegedly trying to take over the Nandini brand. “In a situation where KMF Nandini’s milk, ghee and butter are not available in all parts of the state, what does this development of Gujarat’s Amul company for online marketing indicate? Doesn’t this feel like a black shadow on the work of countless Kannadigas who sustain on Nandini’s milk?” the party said on Twitter.
“This development seems to be part of an evil plan to phase out our nation’s proud institution KMF Nandini. When a direct merger is not possible, these kinds of tricks come into play. If we sit idly by saying that this is the competition with a giant organization, the future will be dire,” JD(S) added.
JD(S) second-in-command HD Kumaraswamy took a jibe at the PM Modi-led government with a “one nation, one Amul” remark. “One nation, one Amul, one milk and one Gujarat’ has become the official policy of the Central government. Hence, Amul is strangulating KMF by standing in its support,” he tweeted in Kannada.
The fresh controversy comes barely a week after Opposition leaders and pro-Kannada groups slammed the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for allegedly imposing Hindi on Nandini products by adding the term ‘Dahi’ followed by the local nomenclature ‘Mosaru’ (meaning curd). However, after facing severe backlash, the FSSAI rolled back the decision and said milk federations can use the term ‘Curd’ followed by the local nomenclature in brackets.