—Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) president Sukhbir Badal’s wife Harsimrat Badal has resigned from the Narendra Modi cabinet in protest against bills on agriculture as the party was facing heat from farmers in Punjab for continuing support to BJP-led NDA government in the Centre Government. However, she will not withdraw support to the government.
Punjab is witnessing an uprising by farmers, the core vote bank of the SAD (Badal), against the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020, The Farmers Produce, Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill 2020, and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 2020. These bills are considered anti-farmer and are under review in the Parliament of India.
Before it made a U-turn on its stand on these bills ahead of the ongoing monsoon session of the parliament, the SAD (Badal) had been supporting the ordinances related to it ignoring the deep apprehension of the farmers of Punjab. Finally, Harsimrat, the sole representative of this party in the union cabinet, also resigned as Minister of Food Processing after all other political parties were daring her to resign. However, retaining support to the government is still raising eyebrows.
Now, rank and file of the SAD (B) are promoting this resignation as “great sacrifice” over social media.
“I am proud that today I am able in my humble way to take that legacy forward,” said Mrs. Badal, adding that she deemed it an honour that farmers always had the greatest expectations from SAD alone, and that the party had always lived up to those expectations. “That legacy will not change, come what may. The trust farmers place in us is sacred to us,” she said.
She said that her decision was “guided by the iconic legacy of S. Parkash Badal for fighting to defend national interests, be it against the Emergency or for the establishment of a federal structure in the country as well as preserving external security or food security.”
TOO LITTLE TOO LATE, SAYS CAPT AMARINDER ON HARSIMRAT’S RESIGNATION FROM UNION CABINET
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said Harsimrat Badal’s decision to quit the Union Cabinet was another in the long chain of theatrics being enacted by the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), which has still not broken the ruling coalition despite the slap on their face by the central government over the Farm Bills.
Questioning SAD (B)’s decision to continue to remain a part of the BJP-led NDA coalition at the centre, the Chief Minister said even Harsimrat’s resignation was nothing more than a gimmick to befool the farmers of Punjab. “But they (the Akalis) will not succeed in misleading the farmer organizations,” he said, calling it a case of ‘too little, too late.’
Harsimrat’s resignation from the Union Cabinet has come too late to be of any help to Punjab and its farmers said the Chief Minister. Had SAD taken a stand earlier and supported his government against the ordinances, the situation might not even have come to such a pass, and the Centre might have thought 10 times before introducing the ordinances and pushing the anti-farmer legislation in Parliament, he added.
“Even now, the only reason for the SAD (B)’s decision to pull their sole minister out of the Union Cabinet was motivated not by any concern for the farmers but to save their political fortunes, and the fizzling political careers of the Badals, who had lost all credibility in the eyes of Punjab’s people”, the Chief Minister said.
He said, “It was the angst of the farmers and the pressure mounted by the state’s farmer organizations, which were up in arms against the vicious ordinances since they were brought in by the Government of India, that had compelled the Badals to change their stance on the ordinances, said Captain Amarinder. “Did Sukhbir and Harsimrat and their coterie not see the damage the legislation would do to Punjab’s agriculture and economy all this time? Or were they so blinded by their greed for power that they deliberately chose to close their eyes to the danger posed by the ordinances?,” asked the Chief Minister.
Now that their game-plan had been completely exposed, the Akalis were left with no option but to take a public stand against the farm Bills to protect their electoral vote-bank in Punjab, Captain Amarinder quipped, asserting that the people of the state had rejected them earlier and will reject them again.
