Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday slammed the Congress-led UPA Government for entering into the final phase of signing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union. BJP’s campaign committee chief claimed that FTA would allow European countries to dump milk and its value added products in the Indian market, which would affect negatively on domestic dairy industry developed on co-operative model.
Modi was addressing the Gujarat Co-operative Congress organised by Gujarat Rajya Sahakari Sangh at Adalaj on the outskirts of Gandhinagar. “Discussion on the effect of FTA should have been done across the country. Instead, the Manmohan Singh Government kept country’s co-operative sector, dairy industry and people of India in the dark as if the Union Government wants to kill agriculture-based animal husbandry economy of rural India,” said the Chief Minister.
Repercussions of the agreement would be serious especially on those who are associated with animal husbandry sector, he said, adding that the UPA Government is promoting exports of meat in the name of ‘Pink Revolution’ by giving subsidies to slaughter houses to systematically reduce domestic milk production.
“It is not only against Indian culture of compassion towards all living beings but eventually strangulate the ‘White Revolution’ started from Gujarat. The policy on exports of mutton and meat would encourage people to send their cattle in slaughter houses, which would create scarcity of milk in future,” he added.
Blaming UPA Government for targeting the co-operative societies through National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Modi said that NABARD’s sudden announcement on the role of Primary Agriculture Co-operative societies (PACs) as lenders to farmers has consternation in the co-operative circles. This decision was taken without taking the State Governments in confidence, he said.