Rajasthan's agriculture minister Kirori Lal Meena is on a mission, carrying out surprise checks at the state's seed and fertiliser units and sealing factories churning out spurious items.
The action of the minister - who made headlines last year with a resignation drama - is seen to have political overtones. But speculation on this is not deterring Mr Meena, who is seen as a grassroot level politician and is seen as a natural to pick up farmers' issue.
Over the last two days in Ganganagar district, Kirori Lal Meena has raided nearly 12 seed manufacturing units.
On Wednesday afternoon, the minister, travelling with a team from Jaipur's agriculture department, reached the premises of Shri Ram Seeds unit in Ganganagar for a surprise check.
The team found a drum filled with a green liquid, which was closely examined by the officials.
"This is a green chemical colour," said an official travelling with the minister as camera crews got busy taking pictures. "This is used to coat seeds to make them look more attractive for sale," he added.
Another drum with similar green paint was seized. "What is chemical colour doing in a seed unit?" the minister questioned the company management and ordered that the unit be sealed.
"Clearly, the colour will be used to camouflage seeds -- like moong for example... and sold to unsuspecting farmers," the minister said.
At the RIICO Industrial Area in Ganganagar, Kirori Lal Meena carried on with the inspection of seed factories and godowns.
At another factory called Sangam Seeds, the minister found sacks of seeds with no proper dates or grades written on them. "How do we know which sacks of seeds belong to which grade," he asked.
"Seeds are prepared by the government after studies by agricultural scientists, after hard work, experiments and detailed research. These foundation seeds are made and they are certified by the government. They give good and rich yield. But instead of following the guidelines laid down by the government and selling only certified seeds, these companies, to make quick profits, are actually selling fake seeds. This is a scam against farmers. This is actually a crime," he said.
Fourteen seed factories raided by the minister have now been sealed.
There were no dates, no tags, nothing on sacks of seeds, obviously these were grains bought at the grain market, in some cases coated with colour and sold off in the guise of seeds, said a source who was accompanying the minister on the raid.
Last week, the minister raided 32 factories making spurious fertiliser in Kishangarh Beawar and Ajmer. A high-level team has been constituted to examine the seized samples of spurious fertiliser. Police cases have been filed against factories selling such fertiliser.
Last year, Kirori Lal Meena had offered to resign if the party performed poorly in the Lok Sabha election in his area of influence. But his resignation was not accepted by the party.
In April, he made a comeback of sorts, getting back to government work and taking marathon meetings of his department.
But his latest move to raid fertiliser factories has raised eyebrows.
The minister raided units under the Lok Sabha constituency of Union minister Bhagirath Chaudhary, forcing IFFCO -- a government undertaking -- to clarify on X that no spurious fertilizer had been found in their premises.
This was followed by the minister's meeting with Mr Chaudhary in Ajmer. While photos were released to the media, there were no details of what transpired.
But many agreed that it has been amply clear that Kirori Lal Meena is back to doing what he knows best --- raising issues close to farmers' hearts and in a manner that is designed to get him maximum mileage.
