Karnataka: Farmers who voted for Congress unable to sell milk, stage protest

Farmers from several villages of Karnataka’s Hassan district staged a protest in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office after a local cooperative society allegedly refused to take milk from them for voting for Congress in the Lok Sabha elections, The Hindu reported.

Hundreds of farmers staged a protest in Somanahalli village, near Hassan on Wednesday, June 5.

The villagers who are members of the cooperative society, which is run by people associated with the Janata Dal (Secular), alleged that the secretary of the society refused to take milk from them after they voted for the Congress candidates.

According to the villagers, milk is collected from them and then sent to the Hassan milk union by milk producers’ cooperative societies. In return, the milk producers get weekly payments from the union.

The protesting farmers submitted a memorandum to the DC and accused Somanahalli Nagaraju, president of Hassan District Cooperative Central Bank, and other leaders of the JD(S) of pressurising the local milk producers’ society. They also demanded that the society reverse its decision and provide fair compensation to the farmers for their milk.

Officials responded

Managing Director of Hassan Cooperative Milk Producers’ Society Union (HAMUL) H Mahesh told The Hindu that he would look into the allegation. “There are more than 1,700 milk producer cooperative societies. The process of collecting milk from producers has nothing to do with any political party, caste, or other identity. Societies cannot refuse to take milk on such grounds.”