Karnataka: Amul vs Nandini or BJP vs Congress
A major political drama has erupted in Karnataka after Amul had announced on Twitter that they will soon start selling milk and curd in the state.
Karnataka will be having elections on 10th May and results will be announced on 13th May 2023. Now a major political drama has erupted in the state. This is because, on 5 April Amul had announced on Twitter that they will soon start selling milk and curd in Karnataka.
People in Karnataka are completely against this and have started protesting. State Congress chief DK Shivakumar said, Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) owned Nandini is a better brand of milk than Amul. We don’t need Amul. Our water, our milk and our own water is very strong. Many politicians and people of Bengaluru slammed this move and backed the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) brand Nandini. ‘Save Nandini’ and ‘Go Back Amul’ began to trend on social media and the milk wars went over to business and politics as well. Karnataka leaders also criticised Amit Shah. A few months back Amit Shah had said that Amul and Nandini should merge. This would make the company stronger. In a long post that the Congress put out on Twitter and asked why was the BJP hell-bent on destroying the local brand of Karnataka by putting 'two cooperatives from two different parts of the country together’. Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) officials and politicians pointed out that Amul is breaking the “unwritten rule” of cooperative societies and is indulging in predatory practices to sell its “stale milk”. It is an unwritten rule among milk federations not to enter into competition in other states. KMF believes it is unethical. The Congress has accused the BJP of "killing" Karnataka’s dairy brand. In fact, a congress leader, Kumarswamy said, “One nation, one Amul, one milk, one Gujarat seems to be the official stand of the Central government.”
The Bruhat Bangalore Hotels’ Association (BBHA) represents about 24,000 big and small hotels in the city and has backed Nandini. These hotels consume around 4 lakh litres of milk and 50,000 litres of curd from Nandini every day. They also buy ghee, butter, kova, paneer and cheese from KMF. Amul milk costs Rs 54 and Nandini costs Rs 43. Hoteliers are supporting Nandini because it is cheaper and also because they want to support the farmers. The BBHA has stated that they will buy only Nandini products going forward, as well to support the state’s farmers and milk suppliers.
Congress leader Siddaramaiah said: "It was Gujarat’s. Baroda Bank that subsumed our Vijaya Bank. Ports and Airports were given to Gujarat’s Gautam Adani. Now, Amul from Gujarat is planning to eat our KMF. Mr Narendra Modi, are we enemies of Gujarat?” However, finally, BJP leader Amit Malviya on Monday clarified all the confusion using Twitter. “Amul is NOT entering Karnataka. Both Amul and KMF sell their products across quick-commerce platforms. There is a reason why India doesn’t TRUST Congress. They LIE! Amul and Nandini are not going to merge. This is just drama because elections are coming close.” Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday ruled out blocking entry of Amul’s milk and curd into Bengaluru. The chief minister, in a chat with reporters in Delhi, urged political parties not to politicise the subject, while asserting that Nandini will emerge the number one dairy brand in India in the years to come.
