SJM demands ouster of Coke, Pepsi from India

Alleging that Coke and Pepsi were "playing" with the health of the public, pro-RSS Swadeshi Jagran Manch has demanded that the soft drink MNCs be asked to wind up their business in India.

Alleging that Coke and Pepsi were "playing" with the health of the public, pro-RSS Swadeshi Jagran Manch on Tuesday demanded that the soft drink MNCs be asked to wind up their business in India and legal proceedings initiated against them.

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The Manch demanded revocation of their licenses, impounding of all existing stock, and a ban on their advertisements in the wake of Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) upholding findings that the soft drinks contained pesticide residues.

"JPC's report has completely exposed the misdeeds of cold drink manufacturing MNCs. We demand that the Centre immediately forfeit the licenses of Coke and Pepsi and they be asked to leave the country immediately", SJM's all-India convenor Muralidhar Rao said addressing a demonstration.

Questioning the credibility of these companies after the JPC upheld the findings of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Rao said: "they were playing with the health of society in general and youth in particular".

The Manch also attacked the foreign laboratories which reiterated that these cold drinks were as per the European and American standards.

A SJM delegation later met Union Health Minister Sushma Swaraj and submitted a memorandum listing their demands.