Co-op movement as holy as Kashi for people of Maharashtra: Shah

Amit Shah’s first visit to Maharashtra as the Cooperation Minister has generated hot debates among co-operators of the state, especially after he levelled a scathing attack on the MVA govt for meting out a step-motherly treatment to co-ops headed by opposition leaders.

Shah first addressed a co-operative rally in Ahmednagar, which boasts India’s first co-operative sugar mill, and later participated in the convocation ceremony at the VAMNICOM in Pune.

In Ahmednagar Shah attacked the state govt saying state leaders should rise above petty politics and strengthen the co-op movement. There are cases brought before us in Delhi and this should not be so, said Shah hinting at the step-motherly treatment accorded to co-ops headed by opposition parties’ co-operators.

Underscoring the importance of co-ops for the state, Union Minister Amit Shah said Maharashtra’s cooperation movement is as holy as Kashi for many people,”. He also issued a veiled threat that he would not be a mute spectator of wrong-doings being done in the name of cooperation.

Shah referred to rampant cases of corruption in co-op banks in the state and said that “RBI does not do it”, attacking state leaders’ tendencies to blame RBI’s rules and regulations for all the ills in a veiled manner.

Vidyadhar Anaskar was also present on the occasion. He placed several demands of the co-operative sector before the Minister, one of which was setting up a co-op university in Pune, a demand he had made earlier also. Anaskar also raised several issues related to co-op banks which were heard sympathetically by the Minister.

On Sunday Shah was at a Pune-based cooperative institution VAMNICOM, where he delivered the convocation address. He gave away – Agri-Business Management (PGDM-ABM) and Post Graduate Diploma in Cooperative Business Management (PGDCBM) to 77 students enrolled in Post Graduate Diploma Management.

The minister also decorated three meritorious students with medals on the occasion. Due to his tight schedule, Shah was not able to look around the sprawling campus of Vamnicom.

The event was attended by Nitin Karmalkar, Vice-Chancellor, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Union Cooperative Secretary Devendra Kumar Singh, Vijay Kumar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, Vijay Kumar, Vamnicom Director Hema Yadav, and other officials.