Mumbai: A fresh controversy has been stirred in Maharashtra over the GI tag application for Valsad Hapus in Gujarat.This is yet another instance of Maharashtra’s opposition leaders expressing anxiety or resentment over matters linked to Gujarat, even when the subject is largely administrative and technical.

NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar claimed that Navsari Agricultural University and Gandhinagar University had applied for a GI tag for the Valsad Hapus mango variety in 2023 under the One District One Product programme. Pawar warned that this could “threaten the recognition of Konkan Hapus,” despite no formal move from Gujarat seeking to challenge the existing GI tag for Konkan Alphonso (Hapus), which was granted in 2018. Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Ambadas Danve claimed Hapus is Maharashtra’s pride and accused Gujarat of attempting to claim it. Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar went further, alleging that such moves were symbolic precursors to “claiming Mumbai” or projecting Gujarat as the centre of national focus.

A letter written earlier by Valsad BJP MP Dhaval Patel to Union Minister Piyush Goyal notes only that the universities submitted an application based on geographic alignment with the coastal Western Ghats. Beyond this procedural correspondence, no debate or public mobilisation has taken place in Gujarat over the mango’s name or GI tag. Yet, Pawar’s post on X prompted a wave of reactions from Maharashtra’s opposition leaders.

This pattern reflects what political observers describe as a recurring theme – Opposition parties in Maharashtra frequently express heightened sensitivity or political suspicion regarding Gujarat-linked issues, even when those issues originate from routine institutional processes or remain peripheral in Gujarat’s own discourse.

Growers in Maharashtra say their concern is not with Gujarat or its farmers, but with the commercial use of the word ‘Hapus’ for varieties other than the GI-certified Konkan Alphonso.

Ajeet Gogate, founder-president of the Devgad Taluka Mango Growers Cooperative Societies Ltd., said:
“We don’t object to Valsad seeking its own GI tag. Our only concern is with using the term ‘Hapus’ for a different variety, because it affects market identity.”

He added that the cooperatives will take up the matter with the GI Registry at the appropriate stage.

Experts also note that the word ‘Hapus’ is used traditionally in both Konkan and south Gujarat, and locally both regions refer to their Alphonso-type mangoes by this name. The GI tag, however, applies only to the specific Konkan-grown Alphonso.

While the procedural GI application will go through its technical evaluation, the political reactions highlight a familiar narrative – the name ‘Hapus’ is traditionally used on both sides of the state border and the GI tag for Konkan Alphonso remains intact and unchallenged.

The issue has sparked far more debate in Maharashtra’s opposition politics than in Gujarat. What could have remained a routine agricultural and administrative matter has once again become a political flashpoint — but mostly in one direction. DeshGujarat