'Shiromani Akali Dal was not consulted, votes against Act'

JALANDHAR: Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday voted against the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 in Lok Sabha after revealing that the Modi government had neither consulted its longstanding coalition partner about the three farm ordinances nor was his party briefed beforehand about the content of these ordinances.
The bill was passed by voice vote in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday evening.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha during the discussion on the bill tabled to amend the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 — the first among the three farm ordinances being pushed by
the Modi government — he said the ordinances should not have been brought without consulting farmers and the three bills should not have been tabled in Parliament without clearing the apprehensions of the farmers.
Sukhbir also claimed that when the ordinances were brought in the Union Cabinet their party representative (Union minister Harsmirat Kaur Badal) did raise the point that farmers had doubts and these should be cleared. “After it was passed in the cabinet, we have been talking to farmers, traders, arhtiyas to clear their doubts as the farmers of Punjab know the issues they face in mandis, about MSP and procurement,” he said.
No question of compromising on farmers’ interest: Sukhbir
These bills are said to be for the farmers and in their favour and all these have been brought together. Before bringing these, the farmers’ organisation and parties of farmers like Shiromani Akali Dal should have been consulted. I am a farmer myself and most of our workers and leaders are farmers,” Sukhbir said.
In a bid to get the Modi government send the three ordinances to a select committee, Sukhbir, along with top SAD leaders, met BJP president J P Nadda and Union agriculture minister Narendra Tomar earlier on Tuesday. Sukhbir was accompanied by Rajya Sabha members Naresh Gujral and Balwinder Singh Bhunder and former MP and party general secretary Prem Singh Chandumajra. The meeting continued for around an hour but SAD leaders could not extract anything more than the assurance that their concerns would be conveyed to the Prime Minister.
Faced with growing anger of its vote base, the farmers in Punjab, against the three ordinances, Sukhbir said during the LS discussion, “There is no question that SAD can ever compromise with the interests of the farmers,” he said.
Claiming that a poor farmer gave him the feedback just two days ago that the impact of this bill would be similar to how Reliance Jio first captured the market with dirt cheap offers and then raised the prices after eliminating competitors. “The MNCs would do the same thing by first offering everything to farmers but would then take control of everything,” he said.
He argued that farmers of Punjab and Haryana would face maximum impact of these bills as the mandi system in these two states was not present in any other state. “Concerns of Punjab farmers must be addressed but this has not been done,” he said.
The SAD’s U-turn on the three farm ordinances came after the party and even its patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, the former chief minister, defended these ordinances strongly and described them as farmerfriendly.