India's controversial Bt brinjal saga has been a prickly issue confronting its agriculture when emotions ran high before the government put the brakes on Tuesday.
And never since the days of the Green Revolution in the 1970s has a food crop aroused the curiosity of the agriculture community as much as the country's first genetically modified vegetable.
For the man in the hot seat -- Jairam Ramesh -- who determines whether the country is ready to embrace genetically modified food crops, it was jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. Just few weeks back in December, he was involved in tortuous negotiations at the World Climate Change summit at Copenhagen.
Caught between pro and anti-Bt brinjal groups, the silver haired minister was once accused of being 'Hitler-like' during public consultations when he was also heckled on a few occasions. India's biotech Czar Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chief of Biocon, wanted an evaluation without being influenced by politics and emotion.
Calls were even given for protest fasts while chaos, anger, repartees and some scientific reasoning marked the public hearings across seven cities with Ramesh facing attacks from groups supporting and opposing the crop variety prompting him to hit back at them in a public display of anger.
The Bt brinjal issue also saw divisions in the Union Cabinet.
Science and Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar were in favour of its commercial introduction.
Pawar said once the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) had given its clearance for Bt brinjal the government had no role left to play. This elicited a sharp reaction from Ramesh who said the final approval has to be given by the environment ministry.
As state governments, politicians, scientists and NGOs remained divided over Bt brinjal, the criticism against it was that, if permitted, it would destroy the bio diversity of the country and open the 'flood gates' for several other GM food crops that are under various stages of field trials.
Bt brinjal has been produced by inserting a toxin gene, Cry 1 Ac, from a soil bacterium called bacillus thuringenesis (Bt) into brinjal plant using the technique of genetic engineering.
The Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company is developing the food crop with technological assistance.
Ramesh, more often at the receiving end with NGOs, farmers, doctors and scientists making out a case for and against commercialisation of Bt brinjal, countered some detractors at the last public hearing in Bangalore, shouting, "I will not listen to you."
The first hearing at Kolkata was also marked by chaos.
At some hearings, Ramesh had shouted down protestors. The minister has lost his cool more than once when he was accused by one of being an 'agent' of biotech firm Monsanto.
"I am not a Monsanto agent," a livid Ramesh snapped in Bangalore. "You need help," he said, indicating that the participant was mentally unsound.
As the debate saw decibel levels rise, the minister tried to use his authority to bring in some discipline and some time turned to humour to calm down an agitated voice.
"This not Parliament," he told a participant who tried to yell to be heard above the din and spoke out of turn.
"They must stop telecasting parliamentary proceedings. . . This is highly infectious," Ramesh said even as the participants yelled to have their voices heard.
To an allegation that he was in the loop of the pro-GM lobby and a gazette notification proved it, he yelled, "I will not tolerate wild allegations." An angry Ramesh made frantic calls to his department to have some clarity on the notification.
According to Ramesh, 'false rumours' were being spread and the actual issue was being hijacked by throwing in 'conspiracy angles'.
"I want scientific contributions, not political contributions," he admonished a member trying to make a point.
Despite being booed as being 'Hitler-like' when he refused to hear some of the points, he said he had been 'patient' and had been "fair and democratic" while eliciting opinions.
Once when a scientist stated that when farmers had accepted mobile and other technology why were they refusing to accept Bt brinjal, he told him: "I am sorry a scientist has spoken so. I apologise to all of you. Science should not teach you arrogance. I am trying to find a middle path between anti-democratic nature of NGOs and arrogance of scientist," he said amid applause.
Debates sometimes took a linguistic turn when a group objected to a scientist airing his views in English and not Tamil in Bangalore raising a counter-protest from Kannadigas.
While some farmers during the public debates argued that introduction of Bt brinjal would impact lifespan and would result in multinationals monopolising the scenario, others said it would help in doubling yield and economic gains.
Some of the scientists questioned the long term implication and expressed fears of contamination through cross pollination, others clearly questioned why India was being used for experimentation.
At the meetings in Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad and Bangalore there was vociferous opposition. However small groups of farmers have said they are in favour of Bt brinjal if it assures less dependence on pesticides.
The Kerala Agriculture-Environmental Collective called for a state-wide Fast on Martyrs Day on January 30 with the message of Remembering the Mahatma, Stopping Bt brinjal and Protecting Food and National Sovereignty.
