Telangana farmers burn TN BJP manifesto over turmeric board promise

The farmers in Armoor town of Nizamabad district in Telangana on Thursday burnt copies of the BJP manifesto for Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, in which the party has promised to set up a turmeric development board in Tamil Nadu if it is voted to power.

The Nizamabad farmers have been demanding for turmeric board, contending that 30 per cent of the yellow produced in India comes from Telangana.

The BJP won the Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat in 2019 general elections over promises to set up a turmeric board. MP Dharmapuri Arvind, who defeated Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha, had even given a written assurance to this effect.

Over 200 turmeric farmers had contested from Nizamabad to register their protest against the failure of the successive governments and political parties to set up the turmeric board.

“They cheated us by not setting up the board here. Now they are trying to hoodwink Tamil Nadu voters with a false promise,” the farmers alleged.

Meanwhile, the Centre on March 15 categorically said in the Parliament that there was no proposal to set up a Turmeric Board in Telangana.

Replying to a question raised by TRS MP KR Suresh Reddy in Rajya Sabha, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry had already established a Regional office-cum-extension centre of Spices Board at Nizamabad for export promotion of spices including turmeric.

Turmeric is an important spice crop in India with a total production of 11.53 lakh tonnes. The country accounts for 78 per cent of the total turmeric production across the world. Telangana is the largest producer of turmeric with 3.86 lakh tonnes and has a cultivation area of 1.37 lakh acres.