AIYF Vents its Wrath on Coca-Cola, Pepsi

VIJAYAWADA:  The activists of All India Youth Federation (AIYF) on Sunday lent their support to Prime Minister Naredra Modi’s call to promote the concept of  ‘Make in India’ - albeit indirectly and with the word ‘Make’ being substituted by ‘Made’.

While venting their anger on international soft drink giants Coca-cola and Pepsi by breaking their cool drink bottles in the middle of the road alleging that they contained harmful pesticide residues, the activists displayed varieties of fruits, coconuts and buttermilk sachets and asked the people to shun MNC products and opt for desi drinks, which were good for health in summer.

“People are wasting money to consume foreign companies-made soft drinks which are laced with chemicals. Celebrities working as brand ambassadors for these products should end their contracts with those companies, as most of their fans are consuming these drinks and suffering from health problems,” they said.

Many researches had proved that the soft drinks Coca-cola, Pepsi, Thums Up and others had high volume of pesticide residue in them, said AIYF state general secretary N Sambasiva Rao, while pouring the soft drinks on the road.

He advised people to drink fresh tender coconut water, buttermilk and fruit juices instead of the foreign companies-made cool drinks. “The MNC companies are selling these drinks to the public at low prices and causing damage to their health. As the fruit juices are highly priced, people are mostly preferring these artificial drinks. If the government provides subsidy to the fruit farmers, then the cost of real fruit drinks will come down and the people will go for healthy fruit juices,” he added.

He said that the AIYF was planning state-wide protests by burning the cutouts and posters of celebrities, who were working as brand ambassadors for the foreign companies-made cool drinks.