The Mehdiganj dharna against the continued withdrawal of water by Coke continues past its 50th day even as the local administration has announced that water table has dropped past critical levels. On the other hand, Coca Cola company continues to spin as Times of India reports that Coke pays money to retailers to suppress reports of dirt and insects in the drinks.

The morale of the local community continues to be high as everyday women from different villages take turns sitting at the protest against the Coke bottling plant and its continual withdrawal of over half a million liters of water every day.

As individuals from around the country � including some eminent personalities such as Rajendra Singh � drop by in solidarity, the morale continues to be high. In addition, documentary film makers and social activists have visited the dharna from around the world including Canada, Germany, and USA.

The success of the protests is perhaps best documented in the reaction of Coke. Even as the protests began about 2 months ago, a senior public relations manager of the company came down from Delhi to talk the people from starting the dharna. Now, the company has taken to using other tactics.

On the 50th day of the protests, about 30 women came and sat opposite the ongoing protests with placards in English. The placards included slogans such as �We do not have scarcity of water�, �We need jobs, Coke gives us jobs� and �We want Coke�.

Nandlal Master, one of the members of the dharna spoke with some of the people even as the entire interaction was visually documented. It came to light that the women holding the placards had no idea what the placards said and had been paid about Rs. 100 by Coke for sitting with those placards. 7 women, on learning that the placards said that there was no water problem in the area, threw away the placards and immediately left the group. The others said that since they had accepted money to sit, they would continue to sit for the rest of the day though they would not join such an exercise again.

The administration of Coke has also started a smear campaign against Nandlal and Lok Samiti � the group of local community members that is heading the protests. It has distributed pamphlets that Nandlal has accepted over Rs. 5.7 million from various sources including foreign funds to run this campaign against Coke and that the community should demand that Nandlal present his accounts. The government should also investigate these funds. They have also alleged that Nandlal built his home from these funds.

In response Nandlal has presented his accounts at a public meeting pointing out that his home was built in 2000, 3 years before the campaign against Coke began. In addition, Lok Samiti has also formed a self help group � a cooperative � that runs a tent house. The accounts for the tent house show initial funds of Rs. 0.17 million of which 70,000 came as bank loans and Rs. 0.1 million was given to the cooperative as a loan from Prof Deepak Gupta from IIT Kanpur. There was no evidence of Rs 5.7million that Coke claims to have come to Nandlal.

It is ironic that Coke has started such a campaign against Nandlal and the protests even as it argues that there is no protest in Mehdiganj. Perhaps, the protests are beginning to hurt Coke. The local communities certainly continue to support the protests as is evident from their participation.

While it presents innuendoes against the Mehdiganj protests, it continue to run publicity campaigns against two court verdicts holding it liable for insects, iron and other junk found in sealed bottles of its beverages.

This has now taken an even more serious turn with the Times of India reporting an internal memo of Coca Cola that suggests that insects, tobacco pouches, dirt and fungus are frequently found in its products and the practice of giving complimentary products to vendors to keep quiet when substances such as show up in its beverages is routine.

In response, Coca Cola has attempted to pass the buck to its vendors and to saboteurs � charges that various consumer court verdicts have rejected.

Related Links
Coke Too Big for Lower Courts and Other Stories
Pepsi & Coke Facing Ban, Consumer Boycott
Community Groups demand Coke, Pepsi Stop Exploitation
No Coke, Pepsi in US Schools