BRS in Telangana was quick to react, citing the notification to call PM Modi's announcement on turmeric board an election jumla.
Published Oct 06, 2023 | 11:28 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 06, 2023 | 11:28 AM
Turmeric farmers during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally on 3 October in Nizamabad.c(Supplied)
The euphoria among the turmeric farmers over the Gazette Notification issued by the Union government on Thursday, 5 October, for the constitution of the National Turmeric Board (NTB) may soon wane.
Now they will wonder where the “elusive” board will come up.
The reason for their fears is that the elaborate Gazette Notification on the constitution of the NTB does not say where it would be established, or if it would have any regional offices. There is no mention of either Nizamabad — the heartland of turmeric cultivation — or Telangana in the entire notification.
The Gazette Notification has everything in it about the constitution of the NTB, but misses out on the most important aspect: Its location, for which farmers have been fighting for years.
The BRS, on its official X handle, alleged that the Union government was trying to hoodwink the people of Telangana once again.
“The gazette notification issued by the Centre does not mention the word Telangana anywhere. The notification has proved that it was an election jumla. Let us teach a lesson to the BJP which is trying to cheat us,” the post on X, formerly Twitter, read.
పసుపు బోర్డు విషయంలో మరోసారి తెలంగాణ ప్రజలను మోసం చేయాలని చూస్తున్న బీజేపీ
కేంద్ర వాణిజ్యశాఖ గురువారం పసుపు బోర్డు ఏర్పాటుపై జారీ చేసిన గెజిట్ నోటిఫికేషన్లో ఒక్క చోటా కనిపించని “తెలంగాణ” పదం
పసుపు బోర్డుపై ప్రధాని నరేంద్ర మోడీ చేసిన ప్రకటన మరో ఎన్నికల జుమ్లా అని… pic.twitter.com/6cbRehiUpi
— BRS Party (@BRSparty) October 6, 2023
The notification acknowledged the fact that India is the largest producer and exporter of turmeric in the world. It said that, over time, the demand for it has grown with the pharmaceutical, nutraceuticals, and cosmeceuticals sectors also using it as an ingredient in making their products.
As turmeric is grown in Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, one representative and one farmer from each state would be on the board, among others. The board will meet at least twice a year with the chairman presiding over proceedings.
In case there is no chairman, a senior official from the Union government will chair the meeting.
In fact, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter and BRS MLC K Kavitha lost her re-election to Lok Sabha from Nizamabad as farmers, who felt that she had failed them in getting the turmeric board, needed to be punished.
As many as 175 turmeric farmers filed nomination papers for the Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat in 2019 as a mark of protest against the non-establishment of the turmeric board.
As BRS and the Congress fought the election, BJP leader D Arvind managed to capture the imagination of the farmers citing Kavitha’s failure in getting the board for Nizamabad, and won the election.
The optics of signing a bond paper in March 2019 that he would get the turmeric board to Nizamabad immediately if he is elected to Lok Sabha, had paid off. He distributed copies of the bond paper with his signature on it among the turmeric farmers.
At a time when the turmeric board was yet again emerging as a sensitive political issue ahead of the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a grand announcement in Mahabubnagar on 1 October, saying the board would soon be constituted.
In three days, the Union Cabinet cleared the proposal and, immediately thereafter, a Gazette Notification was issued.
In fact, the BRS has been planning to make BJP MP Arvind taste his own medicine, but Narendra Modi had delivered a pre-emptive blow on the pink party by announcing the constitution of the board.
But now the BRS’s hope of turning it into an issue have brightened with the Gazette Notification not mentioning where the NTB is going to come up. Even when Modi had made his announcement, BRS working president KT Rama Rao had described its as “a joke”, saying he would wait for the board to actually come up to believe the prime minister.
Lately, the agitation for a NTB has been gathering momentum, with Arvind failing to get the board for Nizamabad.
Though the Union government announced the establishment of a Regional Office and Extension Centre of the Spices Board in Nizamabad on February 5, 2020, it failed to satisfy the farmers as they were not ready to settle for an apology for the proposed turmeric board.
The Union government said that the regional office will address the issues related to turmeric, chilli crops, and other spices and it will work in coordination with the Department of Agricultural, Horticultural, and Ministry of Consumer Affairs but it did not cut any ice with the Telangana turmeric farmers.
