A week-long tour by MPs of BJP and Shiv Sena to the US to study Genetically Modified (GM) crops was cancelled on Friday following pressure from the RSS and Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM). The tour was sponsored by global seed giant, Monsanto.
MPs are understood to have been told that in future foreign tour relating to BJP parliamentarians would be first cleared by Prime Minister’s Office(PMO).
“No BJP MP will be part of delegation sponsored by Monsanto”, tweeted RSS leader and BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav during the day, indicating strong disapproval to the sponsored tour. Soon after SJM leader S Gurumurthy tweeted “Shocking BJP MPs going on a tour funded by Monsanto to visit its headquarters”
Within few hours, Gurumurthy tweeted again confirming cancellation of tour by the government. BJP leadership has conveyed that “the BJP MPs told not to got to Monsanto tour. MPs told not to accept foreign tour without PMO’s yes”, said the SJM leader.The MPs were to fly to America on Saturday, weeks after the Government overruled field trials for 15GM crops.Party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said the party has not given go ahead to the tour that stands cancelled.
BJP MP from Siwan Om Prakash Yadav and the party’s Bulandshahr MP, Bhola Singh, Prataprao Ganapatrao Jadhav and another Shiv Sena MP, Krupal Balaji Tumane, MP from Ramtek were among the members of the delegation. Others in the group included two MPs from Andhra Pradesh, one each from Gujarat and Rajasthan and four each from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. BJP MP from Aligarh, Satish Gautam, claimed he had opted out of the visit.
Altogether 20 MPs were offered invitation by the Seed giant. The MPs were to attend a ‘Farm Progress Show’ in Iowa, then visit the Monsanto headquarters in St louis, Missouri. The trip would have cost an estimated Rs363,540 per head for travel, food and accommodation, Monsanto official have reportedly said.
The US company was of view that parliamentarians with interest in agriculture and seeking to advance their knowledge of agricultural technology had responded to the invitation.
On July 29, Environment & Forests Minister Prakash Javadekar overruled the recommendations of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) and put a halt to the field trials of 15 GM crops, including of brinjal and rice, after protests from SJM and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, organisations backed by the RSS. The US company said that the trip had no connection with Government overruling the field trials.
Hopes ‘tripping’IJ
MPs are understood to have been told that in future foreign tours relating to BJP parliamentarians would be first cleared by PMO
BJP MP from Siwan Om Prakash Yadav and the party’s Bulandshahr MP, Bhola Singh, Prataprao Ganapatrao Jadhav and another Shiv Sena MP, Krupal Balaji Tumane, MP from Ramtek were among the members of the delegation
The MPs were to attend a ‘Farm Progress Show’ in Iowa, then visit the Monsanto headquarters in St louis, Missouri
The trip would have cost an estimated Rs363,540 per head for travel, food and accommodation
The US company said that the trip had no connection with Government overruling the field trials