Sikh face of BJP resigns from party in protest against anti-farmer bills, exclusion of the Punjabi language in J&K

TARN TARAN SAHIB, Punjab—Feeling embarrassed and suffocated to be part of the BJP after it took anti-Punjab and anti-Punjabi decision, its Sikh face in Majha region, Advocate RP Singh Maini, today resigned from the saffron party in protest. Maini has expressed dissatisfaction over the farm bills, scrapping Punjabi as one of the official languages of Jammu and Kashmir, and the stand of BJP on Satluj-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue.

Releasing a video on social media, Advocate Maini said, “I have been associated with the BJP for the last 20 years. I remained president of its Tarn Taran unit for five years, while state spokesperson for three years. In every party, there is internal democracy. I mean leaders of the party have a right to express their opinions on any issue. These opinions reach the party’s central leadership and are considered. But the BJP does not have such a system. It is like one-way traffic, wherein you are bound to obey the orders issued by the central leadership.”

“There are three issues, over which I have decided to quit. First, its government in the centre is about to implement anti-farmer laws. As Punjab is an agrarian state, these laws will devastate the farmers and others associated with it directly and indirectly. Unfortunately, the BJP government got these bills passed in the parliament forcibly violating democratic norms. Thus, it strangulated democracy,” he said.

He said, “The second bill was regarding the official languages of Jammu and Kashmir. The Punjab leadership of the BJP has failed to convince its high command to include Punjabi as the official language of the state-turned-union territory. The state leadership of the BJP never took a stand in favour of Punjab and has always stood with its Delhi leadership ignoring the interests of Punjab. Today, entire Punjab has taken on streets to protest. Once again, the BJP leaders from Punjab are nowhere to be seen.”

“Being a member of this party, I worked very hard and served it tirelessly. But today I think that it would be a sin to walk even inch with the party which is not concerned with Punjab. So, I decided to resign from the basic membership of this party,” he added.

Maini is also a member of the Chief Khalsa Diwan, a legendary Sikh organization. He remained the right hand of the former BJP Minister Anil Joshi. He was active in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts. His resignation was expected as he was voicing against the fresh moves of the BJP government for the last many days.

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