Turmeric politics kicks up ahead of Telangana polls

To get a stronghold over Telangana ahead of the Assembly elections in the state, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)’s MP from Nizamabad Arvind Dharmapuri has written to the Centre to shift turmeric from under the ministry of commerce to the ministry of agriculture so growers can enjoy the benefits of schemes and welfare measures to the crops.

The move to include turmeric farmers who are a part of the Spices Board of India in agriculture could be a significant step for the BJP in the state.

According to a report by News18, BJP has shifted its focus to issues and groups that can impact its influence in the southern state and one of them is turmeric farmers.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the farmers were protesting in the state to fulfil their demand for a separate Haldi Board. “These independents took a major chunk of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) votes that could have come to us and our margin could have increased tremendously. But they wanted to protest this way," Dharmapuri told News18.

The MP also said that turmeric is known as ‘yellow gold’ in the southern state and it decides the fate of nearly five Assembly constituencies.

The leading government in the state - Telangana Rashtra Samithi have also been going against BJP over the paddy procurement demand by farmers. However, the BJP has tried to assure the turmeric farmers that despite the Centre denying a separate Haldi Board, it has done more for them.

Senior leaders in the party told the news daily that they believed the Assembly polls in the state next year are likely to witness politics with crops at the core of it.

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