When an NGO lab came up with test results that 11 soft drink brands had pesticide residues more than permissible limits by BIS standards, Kerala State Govt. banned the production and selling of Coke and Pepsi. The State Govt. did not validate the data for itself nor did it wait for results from any other lab. The companies then filed a case in High Court and the court lifted the ban citing that the State Govt. did not have the authority to enforce such bans. The court also noted that the Communists in Kerala did not even bother listening to the companies point of view.
When you live in a country like India, where there is a rule of law, you obey them. But not for the Communists. No, Sir. Following the High Court verdict, the foot soldiers of the Communists attacked godowns stocking cola products.
Around 50 members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), ransacked the PepsiCo godown opposite the CPM district office. According to eyewitnesses, close to 50 per cent of the stocks were destroyed by the activists. The police arrived late and by that time the DYFI activists had dispersed. No arrests have been made.
When reports of this attack were flashed on TV channels, suspected DYFI activists yesterday evening barged into godowns at Kozhikode in north Kerala and inflicted heavy damage by destroying cola products.
In Palakkad, activists attacked around eight lorries that had come to lift stocks from the Coca-Cola unit there and smashed their windscreens.[Pro-Left activist attacks Kerala cola warehouses]
Fortunately followers of this murderous and anti-national cult and did not kill anyone this time. Mind Curry put it best when he wrote
And the leaders of DYFI and AIYF gave a statement today to justify their acts: “We are just making the “people’s voice” heard”. Isn’t that the lamest reason you could ever hear in a state that gloats under the umbrella of 100% literacy? If the people have a voice why don’t we let them decide? We can just choose to NOT DRINK it, or DRINK it. We don’t need third rate scoundrels or their parties, or even the government, make such decisions for us. I have a right to think, consider facts and decide which is safe and what I want to drink. It is unacceptable that a party makes that choice for the people. The people should have the right of choice, and that is what would have made us seem more literate, democratic and cultured.[Yehi Hai Right Choice]
Once when some farmers in Kerala decided to plant some other crops instead of paddy, the Communists descended on their fields and destroyed all the crops. It was a warning to the farmers that the the Communists were the new Zamindars who would dictate what the farmers should cultivate in their fields. The leader of that movement is the current Chief Minister of Kerala. Koko the monkey might design a spacecraft and go to moon, but still these Communists will never understand the concept of personal freedom.
Update 1 Vinod writes
To furthur insult the intelligence of the people of Kerala, the CM seems to assume that the Colas are a problem affecting the common man. Pray, how? In a state where safe, potable water is not available for the common man, is the CM playing Mary Antoniette and assuming that the common people are now drinking Cola in Kerala? However much I try to extend my imagination, I fail to make a connection between the “common man” and Cola in Kerala, except maybe with Rum.
Update 2 Siddhartha Shome analyzes the anti-Coke movement in India
Update 3 Kuttan writes
This has to be the icing on the cake. Kerala now has a chief minister who not only condones violence but also justifies it publicly. According to him if you dont agree with the judiciary of the land you can take matters into your own hands and run amok destroying private property. He condoned it when SFI resorted to violence against self financing colleges and destroyed property of the colleges now he went a step further justyfing the people who attacked the cola companies.
By saying that he has knocked down one pillars of the constitution and has indirectly called out for an all out war against juduciary. Im not a legal expert but if this doesnt constitute contempt of court I’m not sure what what would.
Thanks for writing on the Coke issue. Also see this.
Not only should the CM be held contempt of court, but his party, which the SFI is a part of, should be made to pay compensatory and punitive damages for destroying private property.
And another thing, Coke is still a luxury in India. The middle-class may drink it, but not the ‘people’ the poor and the down-trodden the CPI-M claims it represents.