Amid stalemate over farm Bills, Akali Dal vertically split on Harsimrat resignation

Harsimrat is the only Akali Dal MP in the Union Cabinet

Will Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal resign on the issue of three farm bills, or not, is a matter of intense political debate in Punjab with Shiromani Akali Dal vertically split on the issue even as party president and Ferozepur MP Sukhbir Badal recorded a strong dissenting note on one of the legislations discussed so far in Parliament and announcing that his party will vote against the other two proposed legislations too.

“There cannot be any mystery when party is opposing the farm ordinances. If we are voting against the bills, she (Harsimrat) will have to resign. This is my personal opinion and this is what 90 per cent of senior SAD leaders think, given the fact that Akali Dal is fighting for the rights of the farmers,” said Sikander Singh Maluka, a former Punjab minister considered close to the Badals.

Harsimrat and her husband Sukhbir are the only two Lok Sabha MPs from the Akali Dal.

Farm organisations in Punjab have been leading strong protests against the three farm bills, saying that these these would end the assured minimum support price regime for agriculture produce.

The government introduced the Farmers’ Produce Trade And Commerce (Promotion And Facilitation) Bill, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill in Parliament on Monday to replace ordinances promulgated earlier. On Tuesday, Sukhbir, the MP from Ferozepur, voted against the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha, saying the proposed legislation is against the interests of farmers.

On Wednesday, he said: “The SAD will oppose the remaining two bills on Wednesday if they are taken up for consideration and sacrifice anything for farmers’ interest as it is at the centre of our politics”.

Akali Dal’s Rajya Sabha chief whip Naresh Gujral Wednesday issued a three line whip to party’s Rajya Sabha members directing them to oppose the three bills as well as amendments in the Essential Commodities Act.

When contacted, Gujral said, “SAD is opposed to all the three bills”.

Maluka said situation was fluid as other two bills were not presented on Wednesday. “I have learnt that BJP leadership is in process to have a discussion with pradhan sahib (Sukhbir). Farmers are voicing their concerns. Central government can at least defer these bills till their concerns are allayed,” said Maluka.

He said Harsimrat’s stand was very clear. “She has already conveyed to party many times that she will vote against [these bills] and was ready to resign on the issue.” The senior Akali leader said Harsimrat could not attend parliamentary session so far as few of her immediately family members were infected with Covid-19 and were in hospital.

SAD Kisan Wing secretary general Gurpartap Singh Wadala, who is also party legislator from Nakodar, however, said, “The relationship between alliance partners SAD and BJP has not reached a melting point where one of the parties decide to break it or where Harsimrat has to leave the government. That time has not yet come.”

Referring to agriculture ordinances, Wadala said, “Akali Dal had to take a stand on the issue as it could not have just closed eyes to what was happening in Punjab. BJP must be sympathetic to Akali Dal on the issue. Nothing is clear as of now. If MSP regime ends, the party will have to take a decision. As of now, it is not clear when ordinances will be implemented and which shape will these take. Why should Harsimrat resign if Congress or Aam Aadmi Party say so? We have so many Sikh issues to get resolved.”

Wadala, however added, “If BJP tries to oppose or condemn what Sukhbir said, then party will have to take a stand.”

Speaking during the debate on the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020, Sukhbir on Tuesday had said, “SAD was not told what is in the ordinances….our representative in the cabinet [Harsimrat] flagged reservations which were there in the minds of the farmers.”

Meanwhile, asked if Harsimrat will resign from Narendra Modi Cabinet, Gujral said, “When one goes to buy a ticket to watch a film, one does not ask about climax. Let us focus on interval for the time being and then we will talk. In politics, these are revolving things.”

Following a core committee meeting on Saturday, SAD had urged Centre to adress farmers’ concerns before introducing the bills in the parliament.

Earlier, SAD had been defending ordinances strongly, saying that these will have no bearing on existing procurement policy and that Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime for farm produce would continue.

Before the one-day Punjab Vidhan Sabha session on August 28, Sukhbir had also released a correspondence to him by Union Minister of Agriculture, Farmers’ Welfare and Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Narendra Singh Tomar which read: “There is no change in the present policy of purchase of agriculture produce through MSP through state agencies.”

In a video released by the SAD on September 3 titled “Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh is misleading farmers on Agriculture Reform Ordinances”, SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal was also seen and heard defending the ordinances saying that “Union agriculture minister has also given a statement that it could never happen that MSP regime could end.” Senior Badal referred to the letter by Tomar to Sukhbir while making the assertion that SAD was the only party, which championed the cause of the farmers and would continue to do so.

Amid widespread protests and opposition by the peasantry, the SAD, which continues to face political heat over the incidents of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in 2015 during its rule and alleged inaction to bring the guilty to the book has latched on to the issue in the state, where peasantry is a major constituency. Punjab goes to polls in early quarter of 2022.

With the resignation of Harsimrat on the issue, if it happens, SAD would aim at consolidating its stronghold in peasantry, while attempt to stage a comeback in the state polls.

In worst ever performance, Akali Dal was relegated to third position in 117-member Punjab Assembly winning just 15 seats in the 2017 polls even as the new entrant, Aam Admi Paty (AAP) emerged as a principal opposition party with 20 seats.

And after that debacle and the anger SAD continues to face, there have been strong apprehensions that BJP is looking for an alternate in Punjab to ally with. SAD (Democratic) led by Rajya Sabha member and former SAD leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who minced no words in hitting out at Sukhbir Badal for party’s debacle in 2017 before quitting all party posts, is being seen as one of the alternatives BJP is believed to be cultivating in Punjab for an alternate alliance to go with.

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