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The case of Gujarat’s Milk Cooperative Society Amul (AMUL) has reached Tamil Nadu via Karnataka. It looks more political than commercial. Just before the Karnataka assembly elections 2023, there was politics regarding Amul vs Nandini of the state. Now Tamil Nadu has also jumped into this politics.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader MK Stalin has written a letter to Union Cooperative Minister Amit Shah. In this letter, he has said that Amul should be directed to stop buying milk from the milk shed area of Aavin. Stalin has written this letter in the name of saving the local cooperative sector and has opposed Amul. The main reason for opposing Amul is that it is from Gujarat.
This is the reason why people who are hostile to the BJP and its leaders, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, are now opposing this Gujarat milk product as well. For this, these leaders are fueling the divisive politics of local versus non-local. Regional leaders like Mamta Banerjee in Bengal, JDU and RJD in Bihar, Congress and JDS in Karnataka, Stalin in Tamil Nadu, MNS in Maharashtra have made regionalism the center of their politics.
In his letter to Union Minister Amit Shah, MK Stalin wrote, “Like the strong dairy cooperatives in other states, Tamil Nadu too has a three-tier dairy cooperative system functioning effectively since 1981. Aavin is our Apex Cooperative Marketing Federation. Under the ambit of Aavin Cooperative, 9,673 milk producer cooperative societies are working in rural areas. They buy 35 LLPD milk from around 4.5 lakh members.”
Stalin further wrote, “It has recently come to our notice that Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union (Amul) has used its multi-state cooperative license to set up a chilling center and a processing plant in Krishnagiri district. It is planning milk procurement through FPOs and SHGs in and around Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts of our state. Such cross-procurement is against the spirit of ‘Operation White Flood’ and is going to add to the hardships for the consumers in view of the present scenario of shortage of milk in the country.”
The decision of AMUL to operate in Tamil Nadu is unfortunate, detrimental to the interest of Aavin and will create unhealthy competition between the cooperatives.
Regional cooperatives have been the bedrock of dairy development in the states and are better placed to engage and… pic.twitter.com/yn2pKINofO
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) May 25, 2023
MK Stalin, who opposed Hindi and linked it to regional identity, is now trying it in the economic sector as well. Under this, they are now trying to stoke the fire of local versus non-local through Amul versus Aavin. This is the reason why they have demanded Amit Shah to stop the operation of Amul in the state. Stalin is not the first leader to make his politics shine by stoking the fire of regionalism by making such a demand.
Raj Thackeray in Maharashtra
When Raj Thackeray launched his party ‘Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’ (MNS), he made it clear that his focus would be on ‘Maharashtra’. His hunger for Marathi votes sidelined even the religious issues on which the Shiv Sena was built. Raj Thackeray tried to woo Marathi Muslims in the recent controversy over Trimbakeshwar Temple in Nashik district.
Defending the attempt by Muslims to offer incense and chadar at the Trimbakeshwar temple, Raj Thackeray said, “If it is a centuries-old tradition, then it is meaningless to ban it. This is the issue of the people of Trimbakeshwar. There are hundreds of temples and mosques in Maharashtra, where such coordination can be seen. Our religion is not so weak that if a person from another religion enters the temple, it gets corrupted. I have been to different mosques. In some of our temples only people of a certain caste are allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum.”
Raj Thackeray is actually focusing on the politics of Marathi people, which includes both Hindus and Muslims. This is the reason why they are trying to attract Marathi Muslims towards them by terming Trimbakeshwar incident as mutual harmony. Raj Thackeray, once an advocate of Hindutva, downplayed the Maharashtra riots, saying, “Wherever Marathi Muslims live, there is no communal tension. This is my experience. They live in peace. Some people are disturbing this harmony. How can a Hindu be in danger in a Hindu majority state?”
This is the same Raj Thackeray who raised the issue of Marathi versus non-Marathi very loudly in the early days of MNS formation. His party used to talk about taking away the jobs of people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh working in Mumbai and nearby cities like Thane, Pune and Nashik and giving them to local Marathi people. His party workers used to beat up the people of UP-Bihar on the coming days. He used to say that because of these people, crime has increased in cities like Mumbai.
Congress and JDS in Karnataka
Congress, despite being a national party, has played the game of local versus non-local politics on several occasions. Congress tried to do Kannada vs Gujarat politics by playing Amul vs Nandini milk brand game before elections in Karnataka. He gave a lot of support to the opposition of Amul being done by Janata Dal Secular. Congress spread a lot of fake news regarding this.
In fact, in December 2022, Union Home Minister Amit Shah appealed for more cooperation between Amul and Nandini. Nandini is owned by Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF). He had said, “Amul and KMF will together work towards ensuring that every village in the state has a primary dairy. Amul and KMF will have to work together to promote cooperative dairy in Karnataka.”
This statement was put in front of people in such a way that Amul may buy Nandini soon. In this way, the local dairy brand Nandini was linked to the identity and culture of Karnataka. By making this an issue, a lot of fire of regionalism was kindled in the state. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at that time appealed to Kannadigas to boycott the Amul brand. At the same time, Congress leader DK Shivakumar called it a big conspiracy.
Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy even went so far as to say, “Amul is being set up in Karnataka through the back door with the support of the central government. Amul is strangling the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) and the farmers. Kannada people should revolt against Amul. Our people and customers should use Nandini products on priority and save the livelihood of the farmers.”
JDU and RJD in Bihar
During the 2015 Bihar assembly elections, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress formed a grand alliance against the BJP. These leaders had asked the people of Bihar to vote for the Grand Alliance, calling the BJP led by Amit Shah and Narendra Modi as ‘outsiders’. Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav spread this propaganda a lot. Here also the hatred of Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav towards PM Modi and Amit Shah was clearly visible.
Let’s tell that Nitish Kumar has been enjoying the government in Bihar with the cooperation of BJP. However, he left the NDA in the year 2013. After that, in the year 2017, he broke the alliance with RJD and Congress and joined BJP. However, seeing the opportunity, he once again broke away from BJP in the year 2022 and became a part of the Grand Alliance. They still keep on chanting the tune of Gujarat vs local leader from time to time.
Mamta Banerjee in Bengal
West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee is also not far behind in stoking the fire of regionalism. During the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections, he had said, “Gujaratis (Narendra Modi and Amit Shah) are trying to capture Bengal by bringing goons from UP and Bihar.” At an election rally in Howrah, she had also said that she would not allow Bengal to become Gujarat.
Similarly, in the year 2019, he blamed ‘outsiders’ for the violence in the state. He promoted similar regionalism during the 2021 elections as well. He tried his best to create fear within the Bengali community. He even said that the culture and language of Bengal was being harmed by immigrants from other states.
Akhilesh Yadav’s SP and Rahul Gandhi’s Congress in UP
During the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party and Rahul Gandhi of the Congress formed an alliance to save their respective legacies and promoted this alliance as ‘UP Ke Boy’. Since Rahul Gandhi was also the MP from Amethi during that time and Akhilesh Yadav was the Chief Minister of UP, both of them promoted themselves as UP locals.
Both these leaders did not directly, but indirectly tried a lot to prove PM Modi and Amit Shah as outsiders. During election rallies, he used to call both the leaders as Gujaratis. Akhilesh Yadav had called him the ‘Asshole of Gujarat’. Giving a befitting reply, Narendra Modi said that he is proud to have taken inspiration from the donkey, which serves its owner day and night without any prejudice and care. Modi had said, “The people of the country are the owners. I work tirelessly for them and will continue to do so.”
In this way, the regional parties in the country have been fueling the fire of regionalism for their political interests. Be it Punjab or Kerala, everywhere such issues have been raised in the absence of proper issues to counter the BJP. MK Stalin has also tried to stir up another issue in his state by writing a letter to the Center in the name of Amul vs Aavin.
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