In a three day Pradesh Abhyas Varg(Practice Session) organized by BJP in Haryana a session was set apart for co-operative in which Ashok Thakur was invited to sensitize the rank and file to the cooperative issues.
Talking to Indian Cooperative Thakur said lack of importance of cooperative in peoples’ eye has of late seen reduced presence in the co-op’s AGM-a matter of grave concern for the party. Even an MLA’s residence has more visitors at any given point of time in Haryana than participants in the cooperative AGMs, he lamented.
In my ninety minute speech I told them how Haryana can benefit and connect to rural folks through cooperatives. Starting from Tribhuvan Das of Khera fame to Lal Bahudur Shashtri to present times I traced the glorious legacy of the cooperative movement before the party cadre.
The meeting was important in the sense that Chief Minister along with all his Cabinet colleagues were present. From among 46 MLAs, 45 were present. They all heard Thakur with rapt attention who expounded on the weaknesses of the co-operative movement in the state.
”I traced the history of the cooperative movement, its role on social issues of poverty alleviation in India and on global level. In my remarks, I stressed the fact that any revolution connected with farmers has to follow the route of co-operative alone,” Thakur said to Indian Cooperative.
Coming to the state of Haryana I told them women need to be involved more and more. Elected cooperators in the state know how to spend money but have no ideas on how to run a successful cooperative, he underlined. There is an urgent need to professionalize them, he added.
More than 400 hardcore BJP workers drawn from different parts of the state were present and Thakur was happy to get everybody’s undivided attention on the subject, he said.