Chikkamagaluru: District Congress President Dr. K P. Anshumanth said that BJP National President J. P. Nadda, who made a written statement in Parliament that eating arecanut leads to cancer, has no morality to inaugurate the arecanut growers’ convention held at Koppa on Monday February 20.
Addressing a press conference here, BJP’s Om Prakash had asked if eating arecanut in Parliament can lead to cancer. “Union Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel on December 22, 2017, gave a written statement that eating arecanut will lead to cancer. Is it possible to make such a statement without bringing it to the notice of the then Union Health Minister J. P. Nadda. It is an insult to the arecanut growers that the arecanut growers’ conference was inaugurated by those who have made such statements,” he said.
On July 10, 2021, BJP MP from Jharkhand Nishikant Dubey wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to ban eating arecanut which causes cancer. On the basis of this letter, the present Union Health Minister Mansuk Mandaviya had stated that the issue of banning arecanut will be discussed at the 24th meeting of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India held on July 27, 2021. Even though BJP ministers have made such statements, BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje is using the issue of arecanut as a political tool without raising the issue of life of lakhs of farmers in Malnad region,” he said and accused that the BJP is taking a double stand and trying to benefit the gutka owners in Gujarat by throwing ashes at arecanut growers.
“When the UPA Government was in power, the import duty on arecanut was increased to 110 and the smuggling of arecanut was banned and the price of arecanut was fixed at more than Rs. 80,000 per quintal,” he said and added that the price of arecanut is being fixed around Rs. 45,000 per quintal as the current import duty has been increased to 351 but the smuggling of arecanut has not been banned.
