Milking power: On the overturning of Gokul Dairy cooperative mandate

Amid a nationwide outcry over electoral malpractices, with fresh evidence emerging every day, the BJP government in Maharashtra has gone a step further in overturning a popular mandate through an executive fiat. It approved changing the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act through an ordinance on November 4 — which the Governor promulgated on November 6 — with the immediate effect of facilitating the takeover of the Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, popularly known as Gokul Dairy, by the BJP and its allies.

A Congress-led panel won 13 of the 25 elected seats on the board of the cooperative on October 19. Gokul, which is one of Maharashtra’s most influential cooperative institutions, has an annual turnover of around ₹4,000 crore and is linked to several lakh milk producers in western Maharashtra.

The BJP had set its eyes on the cooperative sector as yet another arena of its political dominance, creating a Ministry of Cooperation under Home Minister Amit Shah.