A claim that Amul owner Anand Seth recently fired 1.38 lakh employees who consume beef is viral on social media. Facebook user Shri Radhe Krishna shared the claim on three Facebook groups: ‘केंद्रीय मंत्री स्मृति ईरानी – अमेठी सांसद’ (Union Minister Smriti Irani – Amethi MP), ‘Kangana Ranaut fans.(Actor)‘, and ‘मुख्यमंत्री – योगी आदित्यनाथ जी’ (Chief Minister – Yogi Adityanath ji). These posts amassed thousands of likes at the time of writing.
BJP supporter Yuvika Sharma also tweeted the claim. (Archive link)
अमूल दूध के मालिक आनंद सेठ ने 1 लाख 38 हजार गाय का मांस खाने वालो को नौकरी से निकाला !!
🙏 जय गौमाता 🙏
— Yuvika Sharma (@Theyuvikash) July 8, 2021
Several other users promoted the claim on Facebook and Twitter.
Fact-check
Amul is not owned by one individual but operated by the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Federation Limited (GCMMF), the apex organisation of the Dairy Cooperative of Gujarat popularly known as ‘Amul’. Since it is a cooperative, it cannot be owned by one person. We also did not find the mention of anyone named ‘Anand Seth’ on the company website. Shamalbhai B Patel is the chairman of GCMMF, while Valamjibhai R Humbal is serving as vice-chairman and RS Sodhi is the managing director. GCMMF was established in 1973. The Amul headquarters are located in Anand, Gujarat.
There are also no media reports corroborating the viral message.
BBC reached out to Amul MD RS Sodhi who clarified, “We don’t know how this kind of news is being circulated. We have not fired any of our employees in the last two years because our business is growing. Even if we do terminate someone, it is never based on religious reasons.”
Sodhi also told the outlet that Amul factories employ around 16,000 to 17,000 people. He stated that employees are selected based on merit, and not their socio-religious background.
To sum it up, the claim on social media that the Amul company has fired 1.38 lakh employees who consume beef is completely false.
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