Days after foreign animal rights NGO, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) urged Amul to capitalise on the rising readiness among conscious consumers to make a switch to vegan milk and food, the dairy cooperative's vice-chairman Valamji Humbal requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ban the organisation.

Alleging a larger conspiracy to malign the image of India's dairy sector and jeopardise the means of earning livelihood of 10 crore people, Humbal on June 1, told PM Modi: "Dairy sector is an important contributor to the GDP of India, but the GDP can be affected adversely by misinformation spread by opportunistic elements like this NGO. Organisations like this are part of the conspiracy to render unemployed the milk producers of India."

According to The Indian Express report, the Amul Vice-Chairman further said that the milk producers of Gujarat want the Prime Minister to initiate necessary action against PETA and ban it so that it is unable to tarnish the image of the country's dairy industry through a "misinformation campaign".

Humbal also said that PETA's real motive is to help multinational companies that are producing synthetic milk.

He insisted that the 10 crore Indians who are part of the dairy industry do not indulge in any cruelty towards animals while milking them.

Humbal said: "Indian culture positions livestock as part of their family and raises them as a member of the family. Therefore, the question of cruelty does not arise at all... This entire episode is a misinformation campaign and an attempt to break the Indian dairy industry, which is self-sufficient and thereby saves the country from the trouble of importing milk and milk products and renders unemployed 10 crore people who are relying on it. The move appears to have been prompted by various foreign companies."

Responding to Amul's call for a ban, PETA India CEO Dr Manilal Valliyate said in a statement: "Amul has shown itself to be a bully, unable to appreciate the public's concern for animals, and a business that apparently cannot change despite changing consumer trends. But no amount of bullying is going to change the fact: vegan eating is taking the world by storm."