Yellow boards in Nizamabad deriding MP Arvind for failure to get Turmeric Board

♦ MP Arvind , Union Minister Rajnath Singh , Ram Madhav promised to Nizamabad turmeric farmers of establishing Turmeric Board during 2019 Parliament Polls

♦ There is no proposal to establish a Turmeric Board or any other spice-specific Board in the country,”says Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel in parliament on Wednesday

♦ Arvind Dharmapuri on a judicial bond paper promised to get a turmeric board within 5 days of winning elections in 2019 and would resign if failed to do so

NIZAMABAD: Nizamabad woke up to find posters deriding the BJP, after the Centre announced that there was no proposal to set up a Turmeric Board in the town, as promised during elections by MP Arvind Dharmapuri.

The yellow color hoardings across the town with Telugu text read,

Yellow (meaning turmeric) Board - Turmeric Board brought by our Nizamabad MP' made every onlooker break into a smile.

The turmeric farmers launched their resentment after the BJP MP, who had pledged to get a turmeric board within five days of winning elections, failed to get the board in four years. The BJP MP had asserted that he would resign from his position in Parliament and join the farmer's and people's campaign, if he couldn't keep his word. Arvind made the promise in writing in March 2019 and even appended his signature on a non-judicial (bond) stamped paper. His associates printed copies of the pledge on the bond paper and distributed them throughout the turmeric-growing regions of the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency.

Senior BJP leaders who supported the pledge included Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, and others.

The issue attracted attention when Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel said: “Spices Board, a statutory autonomous body, set up under the Spices Board Act, 1986 is entrusted with the responsibility of promoting 52 spices including turmeric, coriander, and chilies. Therefore, there is no proposal to establish a Turmeric Board or any other spice-specific Board in the country”.

The minister was replying to a question raised by BRS MPs Venkatesh Netha Borlakunta, Kavitha Malothu, Dayakar Pasunoori, and Gaddam Ranjith Reddy on the constraints the Centre was facing to set up the Turmeric Board in Nizamabad.

Kalvakuntla Kavitha, BRS MLC and former Nizamabad MP, questioned the sitting BJP MP Arvind Dharmapuri about his promise to bring the turmeric board to the district in 2022. Kavitha made the observation that Arvind had been unsuccessful in convincing the Union Government to set up the turmeric board in the district.

Highlighting the disclosures produced using an RTI, Kavitha asked the BJP Nizamabad MP to justify the denial of the long-pending demand of the farmers and people of Nizamabad.

She also said that the MP was making tall claims about the allocation of Rs 100 crore when every farmer only received Rs 200 from the turmeric board.

Kavitha recalled the lofty and faulty promises of MP Arvind Dharmapuri and the BJP leaders just to win an election, and said they ditched the farmers after the polls.

Following the clarification provided by the Centre that the Turmeric Board would not be granted to Telangana, the turmeric farmers of Nizamabad decided to express their displeasure and impale the broken promise of the MP by putting up the yellow boards.