Today in Politics: PM Modi in Ahmedabad for Amul golden jubilee; farm stir spirals over protester death

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to attend the golden jubilee celebrations of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which owns the ‘Amul’ brand, in Ahmedabad on Thursday and will unveil five projects worth Rs 1,200 crore.

The GCMMF’s vision for the next 25 years will also be discussed at the function, said the federation’s managing director Jayen Mehta.

The event, being held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, is expected see the participation of more than 1.25 lakh dairy farmers from around 18,600 villages in Gujarat. Mehta said 40-45 per cent of the dairy farmers in the audience will be women.

The GCMMF, set up in 1973, has an annual turnover of Rs 61,000 crore and 36.4 lakh farmers among milk producers of the 18 district dairy unions under it.

The PM will inaugurate five new dairy projects: modern cheese plant of Sabar Dairy, which has come up with an investment of Rs 600 crore; a long-life tetra pak milk plant of Amul Dairy at Anand; the expansion of its chocolate plant; a 50,000-litre ice cream plant of Sarhad Dairy in Kutch; and a unit of Bharuch Dairy coming up in Mumbai.

In context: While the GCMMF is a non-political body, its control over the last couple of years has been with the ruling BJP. Most of the 18 dairy unions that are members of the GCMMF are under the BJP’s control. Shankar Chaudhary, the Gujarat Assembly Speaker, continues to be the chairman of Banas Dairy, while Jetha Bharwad, Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Panchmahal Dairy, continues to head the district cooperatives.

When R S Sodhi quit as MD of the body last January, after more than a decade at the helm, some said it was because he did not toe the political line. “Two decades ago, leaders of the milk unions in Gujarat