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THE electoral bond scam has reiterated the deep rooted and unholy nexus between crony capitalists and the ruling class parties. It has also come to light that the leading tyre monopolies have directly paid the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to buy their silence on their illegal cartelisation. According to the data released by the Election Commission, BJP, the ruling party has received Rs 6 crores from CEAT and Rs 15 lakhs from MRF. All these tyre monopolies which were fined by Competition Commission of India (CCI) for cartelisation, have made these donations during 2019 Lok Sabha elections. This is a quid-pro-quo arrangement to facilitate profiteering by the tyre cartel at the expense of millions of rubber farmers. The BJP government led by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is culpable of being a wilful colluder to policies at their behest and detrimental to farmers.
The other two major players of the tyre cartel, JK Tyre and Birla Tyre, are conspicuously absent in the list. However, sister concerns of JK and Birla conglomerate have donated handsome amounts to both BJP and Congress. Notably, the amount donated by the MRF, the mainstay of the tyre cartel, is comparatively smaller when compared to CEAT and Apollo. An in-depth scrutiny of the data is needed to ascertain whether MRF deployed the “Reliance method” of using shell companies and trusted individuals for transactions.
It is clear that monopolies leading the notorious tyre cartel made these donations to the ruling party to gag them from acting against the cartel which is devastating the livelihood of millions of rubber farmers, plantation workers, small and medium traders, and MSMEs. The CCI judgment had disturbing insights to the market manipulation practiced by the tyre cartel. Ruling class parties have been strong votaries of the India ASEAN Free Trade Agreement which is ruining rubber farmers. Unfair trade policies are leading to import of rubber from highly subsidised ASEAN countries resulting in price crash and acute distress for rubber farmers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi who sheds crocodile tears on the plight of rubber farmers and the BJP Government actively supported the manipulations by the tyre cartel. The complicity of BJP in the whole affair needs to be exposed and their accountability has to be ensured.
Kerala Karshaka Sangham, affiliated to the AIKS in Kerala had recently organised a siege of MRF and Apollo factories against the tyre cartel. The Kerala Karshaka Sangham-led Samyukta Karshaka Samithi, a joint forum of 11 farmers’ organisations is leading the anti-cartel struggle. One of the major demands of the struggle is to ensure that the Rs 1788 crore fine imposed by CCI on the five tyre monopolies should be used to benefit the rubber farmers. AIKS warns the tyre cartel and the subservient ruling class parties that a powerful movement of the farmers will expose the corporate-communal nexus in the rubber sector. AIKS also salutes the LDF government in Kerala for constituting an expert committee to inquire about cartelisation and price formation. AIKS will exhaust all options to expose the tyre cartel and their unholy nexus.
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