UP Chief Minister Mayawati announced two major decisions which would directly hit the business prospects of the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group in UP.
LUCKNOW: UP Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday announced two major decisions which would directly hit the business prospects of the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group in UP. The state government has withdrawn its new agriculture infrastructure and investment policy and ordered immediate closure of Reliance Fresh stores throughout the state.
Besides making Mayawati appear apologetic, the two decisions represent a political victory for the BSP’s arch rival, the Samajwadi Party (SP). It is the SP which had opposed the new agriculture policy, and SP MP Banwari Lal Kanchhal has been organising demonstrations demanding their closure.
Political observers are indeed surprised over the way the firebrand Dalit leader has given in so easily and so soon over the much-touted farm policy announced only on August 3.
“We have got intelligence reports which say that over 60 per cent of the state’s farmers are against the new agricultural policy. Since our government does not wish to impose any decision against the farmers’ choice, the agriculture policy announced on August 3 is being scrapped with immediate effect,” Mayawati said after the Cabinet meeting.
The policy, introducing contract farming, allowed big corporates to enter into agreements with farmers to buy their produce directly, while the government would only play the role of facilitator. The Mukesh Ambani Group’s Reliance Fresh was expected to be the biggest beneficiary of this policy. Only investors with a net worth of over Rs500 crore, and who could invest at least Rs2,500 crore over the next three years were to be given licences under this policy.
Mayawati also announced that the government had decided to shut down Reliance Fresh stores following the violence at its retail outlets in Lucknow and Varanasi. “The opening of these stores is creating a law and order situation… the state government feels the need to review the situation with regard to health, cleanliness, selection of the site besides law and order,” she said.
The CM declared that a high-level committee under Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh would review the matter pending which the Reliance Fresh stores shall remain closed. The CM’s Principal Secretary Shailesh Krishna later told reporters that such retail outlets which dealt in fruits and vegetables and being run by firms other than Reliance would also be brought under the purview of this inquiry.
The SP is already gloating. “This is a major victory for us. The very concept of contract farming is unacceptable as it would only benefit the big corporates while the farmers would be reduced to begging for their dues,” state SP president Ram Saran Das told DNA. He said that the SP had taken to the streets on the issue, and “it is our agitation which has brought the Mayawati government on its knees”.
BJP state president Keshrinath Tripathi also welcomed the decision, saying, “The state’s farmers have been saved from blackmail at the hands of business houses. Contract farming would only have resulted in farmers committing suicides.” He described the decision as a “major setback” for the Maya government and said it was only an indication of the “haphazard manner” in which it was functioning.
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