The reply of GCMMF Managing Director R S Sodhi to PETA’s advocacy of Vegan Milk has received standing ovations from the Twitterati who have gone several steps ahead in a bid to expose the alleged MNC ploy to destroy the dairy co-operative movement in the country.
It bears recalling that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India wrote a letter to the Amul MD R S Sodhi asking him to switch to producing vegan milk. The letter said the dairy cooperative society should get benefitted from the booming vegan food and milk market across the globe.
Responding strongly to PETA’s overtures, the MD of GCMMF, a globally known brand of the dairy co-op movement wrote back “Will they give livelihood to 100 million dairy farmers (70% landless), who will pay for children school fee .. how many can afford expensive lab manufactured factory foods made out of chemicals … And synthetic vitamins.”.
Sodhi wrote “Peta wants Amul to snatch livelihoods of 100 mill poor farmers and handover all it’s resources built in 75 years with farmers’ money to market the genetically modified Soya of rich MNC at exorbitant prices, which the average lower middle class can’t afford.”
Supporting Sodhi, the Banas dairy Chairman Shankar Chaudhary wrote “For us, Amul is not an industry, but a means of livelihood for lakhs of milk producers. It has given them the courage to dream. To hope, to live and to progress. @PetaIndia should stop this misplaced activism in the garb of business development.”
Upholding GCMMF’s stand on the issue Ashwani Mahajan of the Swadesh Jagaran Manch wrote “ You are absolutely right @Rssamul We need to investigate into the activities of all such miscreants who are working at the behest of foreign biz and strategic interests, against livelihood of poor dairy farmers. Nation is with @Amul_Coop Milk is only from cow & milch animals.”
The unsparing and scathing attack of Sodhi against PETA was lapped up by several other social media activists who dismissed the PETA move as a cover to assist the business interest of MNCS, out to destroy the Indian dairy cooperative movement.
Accusing PETA of ulterior motives, one of them wrote “Average land size is 1.21 acre. Most are landless and Milkonomics is the backbone of these farmer economies. The whole idea is to sabotage Indian farmer self-sufficiency and make them bonded labour.”
Another wrote “The attempt has been made by multiple MNCs since years to sabotage @Amul_Coop as it is the leader & represents Indian farmers. They want to destroy milkonomics of Indian farmers similar to how they have destroyed the edible oil industry of India”.
“Kick these Peta guys, they want to sabotage a very successful co-op movement helping farmers across India. Nandini brand from KMF in Karnataka following Amul is very successful. We Indians do not succumb to these lobbyists who want to cripple the successful dairy industry in Bharath”, wrote an aggrieved activist. “Thanks God there was no PETA in Dwapar Yug” someone took a jibe.
PETA doesn’t even spend a pai from its over USD 40 million funds on saving animals. It’s more focused on creating a way to tech-based food biz & close the traditional food biz, as that will help them control the food chain more effectively, since lab production is controllable.