On Friday, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) wrote a letter to Amul, India's largest dairy cooperative society, urging it to make a decision to switch to producing vegan milk.

The suggestion has not gone down well with Amul. RS Sodhi, the MD of Amul, has since said that PETA wants Amul to snatch the livelihood of 100 million poor farmers and hand over all the resources it has built in the 75 years with farmers' money to MNCs. "PETA wants us to market genetically modified Soya of rich MNCs at exorbitant prices, which the average lower middle class can't afford," Sodhi said.

Ashwani Mahajan of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, too, espoused a similar view. "PETA wants to snatch away employment of 10 crore dairy producers, meaning thereby 5 crore population, which is mainly landless," he lamented. Replying to him, PETA said that dairy firms like Nestlé, Epigamia, Chobani, Danone, and Yoplait all know vegan eating is here to stay, and are now investing in non-dairy options. "Smart businesses respond to trends, not fight them. Amul can too. Plant milks are made from plants produced by farms in India," it added.

In a further argument, Mahajan said that dairy farmers in India are mostly landless and that PETA's designs may kill their only source of livelihood. "Mind it milk is in our faith, our traditions, our taste, our food habits an easy and always available source of nutrition," he argued.