Addressing the media on Thursday, [noted biotechnologist and Padma awardee Pushp Bhargava] said allowing multinationals like the US-based Monsanto to sell its GM seeds would be the ”greatest tragedy in the history of Independent India because it will make India subservient to US interests”. Comparing Monsanto with the British East India Company, the Padma awardee said he, along with several other scientists of international repute, had decided to fight against seed companies’ imperialist designs to control India’s agriculture.