Milking power: On the overturning of Gokul Dairy cooperative mandate

Amid a nationwide outcry over electoral malpractices, with fresh evidence emerging every day, the BJP government in Maharashtra has gone a step further in overturning a popular mandate through an executive fiat. It approved changing the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act through an ordinance on November 4 — which the Governor promulgated on November 6 — with the immediate effect of facilitating the takeover of the Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, popularly known as Gokul Dairy, by the BJP and its allies. A Congress-led panel won 13 of the 25 elected seats on the board of the cooperative on October 19. Gokul, which is one of Maharashtra’s most influential cooperative institutions, has an annual turnover of around ₹4,000 crore and is linked to several lakh milk producers in western Maharashtra. The BJP had set its eyes on the cooperative sector as yet another arena of its political dominance, creating a Ministry of Cooperation under Home Minister Amit Shah. While that plan of controlling cooperatives continues to play out through various means, the overturning of an election clearly won by the Congress-led Opposition marks a new level of brazenness by the BJP, and of the impunity its actions continue to receive from the judiciary.The Congress-backed Rajarshi Shahu Shetkari Samvichari Aghadi, led by Satej Patil, won 13 of the 25 elected seats on the Gokul board. On October 29, the election of the chairman was deadlocked after the BJP-allied members did not participate, and the meeting fell short of the required quorum of 14 members. The directors allied to the Congress and its partners subsequently declared Shashikant Patil Chuyekar as chairman, but the administration refused to recognise the election as quorum requirements had not been met. The amendment made through the ordinance allowed the government to nominate five directors to certain large cooperative institutions, with four nominees receiving voting rights. To be sure, four were nominated immediately to the Gokul board, and they voted with the BJP and its partners to elect a chairman on November 10. The mandate of the cooperative’s members had been 13-12 in favour of the Congress and its allies, but it turned 16-13 in favour of the BJP and its partners, with the appointment of members with voting rights by the State government. Those defeated approached the Bombay High Court on November 9 to restrain the government-nominated directors from voting, but the High Court did not grant that relief. The diffidence of the judiciary in intervening in favour of democratic principles is turning out to be a matter of concern. The overturning of the popular mandate in Gokul Dairy cannot be seen as an isolated incident. It is yet another instance in a troubling pattern of state power silencing the people’s choice. Published - November 12, 2026 12:20 am IST