Tweeples are not taking the move of food and beverages major Pepsico to sue Gujarat potato farmers for 'illegally growing a variety of potatoes' very nicely.

PepsiCo owns the brand, Lays, a popular off-the-shelf potato chip food item for which the cultivation of potatoes is key. On Wednesday, the firm dragged at least nine farmers to court for illegally growing potatoes "registered" by the company and over 190 activists had requested the government to ask PepsiCo India to withdraw its "false" cases.

Nine farmers from Sabarkantha and Aravalli districts have been sued by PepsiCo for allegedly growing a variety of potatoes for which it has claimed Plant Variety Protection (PVP) rights.

The multinational giant has sought damages of Rs 1 crore from each of four farmers in its suit at a court in Ahmedabad, and Rs 20 lakh from each of the farmers sued at a district court in Modasa, the activists had claimed.

Appalled by the move, avid Twitter users mock the MNC's move of seeking damages worth Rs 1 crore for something as basic as potatoes.

Abhijit Ganguly, a stand-up comedian, in his tweet claimed that he will avoid all products of Pepsico from now onwards.

Hey @PepsiCo you have to be a special kind of evil to sue farmers for 1 cr each. For a friggin potato.Avoiding all your products. Also, Fuck you. pic.twitter.com/JDtnjWho3M

— Abijit Ganguly (@AbijitG) April 25, 2019

Some even called PepsiCo 'corporate monsters' for taking this move.

Just because pepsi makes lays from potatoes, the company thinks no one else should cultivate that particular brand of potatoes. Why these corporate monsters should be... https://t.co/VsGnkQn5ew

— karthikeya sivasenap (@KSivasenap) April 25, 2019

Uplifting the miserable state of the Indian farmers is among the key claims made by the government. Farmers have been grappling with debt, inflation and even, exploitation by landowners which have led to mass suicides, especially, in Northern India.

In 2018, a study by The Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), claimed that 76 percent of the farmers want to give up farming and look for alternatives citing poor income, bleak future and stress as key reasons.

First Published:Apr 26, 2019 7:54 AM IST