Gokul board: Patil attacks govt-picked directors, calls march in Kolhapur on Nov 9

Satej Patil, the Congress leader, has declared that he will take the fight over Gokul to the streets. He has called a march in Kolhapur on November 9, from Dasara Chowk to the district office, against the state government's plan to put its own nominees on the board of the Kolhapur milk union.

The Mahayuti government's Cabinet cleared the plan at a meeting in Mumbai on November 4. Reports of the decision speak of four expert (co-opted) directors for Gokul, while another account says the government will name five experts in all, four of whom will be allowed to vote. The Cabinet also took a wider decision at the same meeting. The government will directly nominate directors to every cooperative institution in Maharashtra whose business is above Rs 3,000 crore, and these nominees will hold voting rights.

The timing matters because the chair of Gokul is still vacant. In the recent election, the Rajarshi Shahu Shetkari Samvichari Aghadi, the alliance led by Patil, took 13 of the 25 seats and the Mahayuti took 12. A meeting to choose the chairman needs 14 members present. Neither side has reached that number, so no chairman has been chosen. If four government nominees can vote, the arithmetic could shift and a Mahayuti candidate could be elected. Patil's group holds the majority today.

Patil addressed a press conference in Mumbai after the Cabinet decision. He said the government wants to take control of Gokul and is overriding the verdict Kolhapur's voters gave in his favour. He said the people of Maharashtra can see an effort to find a technical lever and tilt his majority towards the government, and that the government will have to answer for it. The Maha Vikas Aghadi has joined him in opposing the move. Patil had earlier described it as strangling democracy.

On the chairman's election, he was blunt. "I will adopt every legal route there is. I will not sit quiet; five and a half lakh farmers have given this mandate." He added that preparations are in place to hit the streets if that mandate is set aside. He also said that if voters wanted him to sit in the opposition, that verdict should be accepted.

Patil mocked the Mahayuti's position as well. He pointed out that a side claiming a full majority is asking for the support of two directors just to make up the quorum, and called the claim laughable. He then turned it around: "we are five corporators short in the municipal corporation, so the Mahayuti should support us and make our candidate the mayor."

He said the file approving the four members has been sent to the Governor for signature. In his view, the law is being altered only because the result went against the ruling side, when any change should have come before the polls. He argued that people the voters turned down are now being described as experts, and that real experts would not have been rejected. He said his legal fight will go on, that he has the majority and that he expects the courts to settle the matter.

Patil also alleged that the government means to hand Gokul over to Amul. Naming Hasan Mushrif, he asked what sort of friendship is now being honoured with him. He said similar directors were put on the Amul board as well, but the High Court struck the move down, and asked why this rule is being applied to Gokul alone. He said the government changed course because it sensed public rejection and an adverse court ruling, and that it cares little for farmers and only wants to remain in power. "Voices are being raised against vote theft, and now the theft of power has begun."

He warned that the trouble will not stop with Gokul and could reach SRA next, and that anyone could be affected, which is why people must come out on the streets. He noted that Kolhapur holds a special place in the history of the cooperative movement, and that the law now targets that very sector. He said his strategy is ready but he will not reveal it yet.