The Gokul Dairy amendment approved by the Maharashtra Cabinet has triggered a political and farmer mobilisation in Kolhapur, with Congress legislator Satej Patil announcing a large march and warning of a legal challenge against the change.
Patil, the Congress group leader in the Legislative Council, said the march would be held in Kolhapur on Monday. Speaking at a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Thursday, he alleged that the state government was attempting to overturn the result of the Kolhapur District Milk Producers’ Cooperative Union election and facilitate a change in its leadership.
According to the report, an amendment approved at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday would give four government-appointed members voting rights in the cooperative’s governing process. The change is expected to make it easier for the Mahayuti alliance to establish control over Gokul, despite the like-minded alliance winning 13 of the 25 seats in the cooperative election, Patil alleged.
Patil described Gokul as a farmer-owned milk cooperative and claimed that the amendment was designed specifically to change the balance of power at the organisation. He alleged that the government was trying to bring Gokul under the control of Amul and claimed that Gokul products could eventually carry the Amul label. The report did not provide an independent confirmation of that allegation or details of any proposal to merge the two brands.
The dispute places the internal governance of a cooperative at the centre of a wider question about how elected representation can be altered after a cooperative election. Patil alleged that the amendment would have retrospective effect and questioned the decision to change the governing rules after the election had already taken place.
He also claimed that the proposed change had been framed specifically for Gokul, while sugar cooperatives and district banks had been excluded. Patil warned that the approach could establish a precedent for intervention in other institutions, including slum rehabilitation projects in Mumbai, though the report did not include the government’s response to that comparison.
Gokul’s scale gives the dispute significance beyond a leadership contest. Patil claimed that the cooperative supports the livelihoods of 5.5 lakh farmers, pays around Rs 100 crore every 10 days to milk suppliers and collects approximately 20 lakh litres of milk daily. These figures were presented at the press conference and were not independently verified in the supplied report.
Patil named ministers Hasan Mushrif and Chandrakant Patil while alleging that they were involved in the amendment. The report did not include statements from either minister or an official explanation of the Cabinet decision.
Patil said the opposition would pursue both street protests and litigation. The immediate next step is the planned march in Kolhapur on Monday, while the legal challenge and the implementation of the approved amendment are expected to determine the next stage of the dispute.
