Jaipur: Seed shops across Rajasthan remained closed on Thursday as the Agricultural Input Dealers Association staged a protest against raids ordered by agriculture minister Kirori Lal Meena this week. Dealers questioned the validity of seizures conducted by the agriculture department and petitioned BJP president Madan Rathore to intervene.“As far as seeds are concerned, how can the govt, just by entering a godown, declare that quality of seeds is fake or sub-standard? Firstly, they should have taken samples, and if anything was found wrong, they would have taken action,” said Purshottam Khandelwal, association president.Khandelwal said agriculture department’s actions damaged the reputation of seed dealers. “There may be some who might be keeping sub-standard seed, but that does not mean all should be implicated, and it was propagated in the media that whole godowns comprised fake seeds,” he said. The association’s claimed they were assured of a meeting with Kirori Lal Meena on Friday, where they will give their representation. When contacted, Meena said, “It is their democratic right to observe strike. Those who are not doing any wrong should not be afraid.”
