Gokul Dairy Row Sparks Massive Protests

Mumbai: Opposition parties and dairy farmers on Monday staged massive protests, accompanied by cattle, in Kolhapur against a Maharashtra government ordinance granting voting rights to four nominated directors of Gokul Dudh Sangh. The move increases the ruling Mahayuti’s strength on the board from 12 to 16, overriding the Opposition’s recent 13-12 victory in the election.

In the newly elected 25-member board, the panel led by Congress MLC Satej Patil secured a narrow majority by winning 13 seats, leaving the Mahayuti-backed panel in the minority with 12 seats.

However, the state government passed an ordinance and nominated four additional directors with voting rights, a move that raised eyebrows among Opposition parties.

Despite fierce opposition to the retrospective application of the new ordinance, the government mandated that all 29 directors, including the four nominees, would be eligible to vote in the chairman’s election.

Opposition leaders and dairy farmers staged a massive protest in Kolhapur on Monday, marching to the district collectorate with their cattle to protest the state Cabinet’s decision. The agitation was jointly led by NCP (SP) state president Jayant Patil and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana chief Raju Shetti.

Addressing the demonstrators, Satej Patil said the protest in Kolhapur had become an issue concerning the entire state.

He alleged that state ministers Hasan Mushrif and Chandrakant Patil were responsible for the decision to appoint four nominated directors and accused them of conspiring to weaken democratic institutions and the cooperative sector.

Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court refused to stay the Maharashtra government’s ordinance. Hearing a petition challenging the constitutional validity of the ordinance, the Aurangabad bench of the High Court ruled that the four nominated directors would be permitted to participate in and vote in the November 10 election for the post of chairman of the Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd (Gokul Dairy). However, it directed that their votes be kept in a separate ballot box.

The bench of Justice Neeraj Dhote also ordered that the entire voting process scheduled for Tuesday be videographed and photographed, while posting the matter for further hearing on November 25.