Making the announcement in parliament today, her husband and party chief Sukhbir Badal said the Akalis will continue to support the government and BJP but will oppose the “anti-farmer policies”.
Staff Reporter / New Delhi
Union food processing minister and Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal today resigned from the Union Cabinet in protest against the farmers’ related Bills the government has brought in.
“I have resigned from Union Cabinet in protest against anti-farmer ordinances and legislation. Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter & sister” she tweeted later.
Harsimrat Badal walked out of Lok Sabha this evening when the House was taking up discussion on the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, that the NDA government has proposed in Parliament during the ongoing monsoon session, replacing the ordinances issued by it earlier.
Speaking on the Bills, Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal announced in the House that his party’s member in the Cabinet Harsimrat Badal would resign if the Bills were passed. Speaker Om Birla had switched off the microphone of Sukhbir Badal when he was making this announcement.
Congress MPs demand withdrawal of agri-related Bills
Later, in protest against the Bills — which have brought the state of Punjab on the boil with farmers organisations up in arms, Harsimrat Badal, who was present in the House, walked out of the Lok Sabha and went to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to submit her resignation.
“These bills have many provisions that go against farmers’ interests. We have repeatedly asked the government that please address the apprehensions of farmers, but the government has done nothing. Therefore, I oppose these bills,” SAD MP from Ferozpur, Sukhbir Singh Badal said in the Lok Sabha during the debate on the The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, which replace similar ordinances.
On Tuesday, Sukhbir Badal, the MP from Punjab’s Ferozepur, voted against the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha, saying the proposed legislation was “against the interests of farmers”.
“The legislation will affect the entire procurement system. It is not just about mandis. It doesn’t take into account the realities of our farm sector,” Badal said, opposing the bills today.
The SAD was a party of farmers, Sukhbir Badal said. The Centre would have done better to organise a meeting with farmers before moving ahead with the bills and adequately address their concerns, he said.
The Congress government in Punjab had passed a resolution in the Vidhan Sabha against the ordinances, prompting the SAD to fiercely oppose the bills after initially supporting it.
The SAD’s core committee had issued a press release saying they had met farm organisations, farmer representatives and representatives to take their views. “Farmers are against these bills because it would make them vulnerable,” Badal said.
Farmers are already protesting these ordinances in food bowl states, such as Haryana and Punjab, and influential farmers’ unions are also preparing to square off with the government on the demand of making profitable sales in the form of minimum support prices, or MSPs, a legal right.
The All-India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), a front for nearly 200 farmers’ groups, has opposed the bills. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh is also unhappy with the ordinances. It demanded safeguards for the farming community, so has the Bhartiya Kisan Union.