A BJP Mahila Morcha protest against Karnataka’s milk price hike at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on Monday ended with Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje and other leaders being detained as demonstrators attempted to march with placards and milk cans.
The protesters demanded that the Congress government withdraw the increase in Nandini milk prices, which came into effect on November 1. Police detained Karandlaje and other leaders and took them away in buses after the attempted march, according to the report.
Addressing the gathering before her detention, Karandlaje called for an immediate rollback and criticised the state government’s handling of essential commodity prices. She said households dependent on modest incomes, including hotel workers, taxi and autorickshaw drivers and roadside business operators, would find the increase difficult to absorb.
The Karnataka Cabinet decided on Thursday to raise Nandini milk prices by Rs 8 per litre. Of this amount, Rs 7 is intended to go to farmers and Re 1 to the Karnataka Milk Federation, which processes and distributes Nandini products. Following the decision, KMF increased the price of curd by Rs 14 per litre and raised prices of some special and toned milk varieties by as much as Rs 12.
Karandlaje also alleged that farmers were receiving inadequate drought compensation in a state facing insufficient rainfall. She said the government was providing Rs 2,500 per acre and had imposed 17 to 18 conditions for farmers to access the relief. These claims were made during the protest and were not independently assessed in the report.
The Union minister further criticised the Congress government’s guarantee schemes, alleging that beneficiaries were not receiving support properly and claiming that Rs 5,000 crore linked to the Gruha Lakshmi scheme had not been accounted for. She also alleged that shortages of funds for repairs and diesel had affected bus operations in the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation and other transport corporations.
Former MLC Bharathi Shetty, who addressed the protest, said the government should honour its manifesto commitment to provide incentives for milk rather than pass higher costs on to consumers. She cited earlier milk-price increases of Rs 4, Rs 3 and Rs 2 per litre and said the cumulative increase, including the latest revision, amounted to Rs 12 per litre.
The BJP Mahila Morcha said it would organise similar protests across Karnataka, including at district, mandal and ward levels. The immediate dispute places the cost of milk, the share intended for dairy farmers and the financial role of the state and KMF at the centre of the opposition campaign. The latest price revision remains in effect from November 1 unless the state government or KMF announces a change.
