A week after the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) walked out of the Narendra Modi government, it has also decided to quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the three farm bills that it says are not in the interest of farmers. The Akali Dal was the oldest ally of the BJP and the two parties have shared power in Punjab and at the Centre for several terms.
The Akali Dal’s decision to leave the NDA was taken at the party’s high-level meeting presided over by party president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday.
“The Shiromani Akali Dal has decided to pull out of BJP-led NDA alliance because of the Centre’s stubborn refusal to give statutory legislative guarantees to protect assured marketing of farmers crops on MSP,” Sukhbir Singh Badal said in a tweet.
He also accused the Narendra Modi government of having “continued insensitivity to Punjabi and Sikh issues”.
Shiromani Akali Dal core committee decides unanimously to pull out of the BJP-led #NDA because of the Centre’s stubborn refusal to give statutory legislative guarantees to protect assured marketing of crops on #MSP and its continued insensitivity to Punjabi and #Sikh issues. pic.twitter.com/WZGy7EmfFj
— Sukhbir Singh Badal (@officeofssbadal) September 26, 2020
Hitting out at the Modi government, senior Akali Dal Lok Sabha MP and former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said the present-day NDA is no longer the NDA that was envisioned by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and veteran Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal. She said the Modi government is unmoved by the pain and protest of 3 crore Punjabis.
“If pain and protests of 3 crore Punjabis fail to melt the rigid stance of Government of India, it’s no longer the NDA envisioned by Vajpayee ji and Badal sahab. An alliance that turns a deaf ear to its oldest ally and a blind eye to pleas of those who feed the nation is no longer in the interest of Punjab,” she tweeted.
If Pain & Protests of 3 cr punjabis fail to melt the rigid stance of GoI, it’s no longer the #NDA envisioned by Vajpayee ji & Badal sahab. An alliance that turns a deaf ear to its oldest ally & a blind eye to pleas of those who feed the nation is no longer in the interest of Pb. https://t.co/OqU6at00Jx
— Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) September 26, 2020
Besides the three farm bills, the Akali Dal said it was also leaving the NDA due to the Modi governments “continued insensitivity” towards Punjabi and Sikh issues like excluding Punjabi language as official language in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The government’s decision on farm bills is deeply injurious to the interests, not only of the farmers but also of khet mazdoor, traders, arhtiyas and the Dalits who depend on the well-being of agriculture,” the Akali Dal said in a statement.
Addressing reporters in Chandigarh, Sukhbir Badal said the decision to walk out of the NDA was taken after much deliberation. He said the farm bills that are being brought in by the Modi government are “lethal and disastrous” for the farmers.
“These are black laws and the SAD had resigned in protest against these bills. It could not be a party to a government or alliance which stands opposed to the farmers, farm labourers, arhtiyas and other poorer and toiling sections of society,” he said.
Terming the bills as “murderous assaults” on poor farmers, Sukhbir Badal said the Akali Dal had hoped that the government would not press on with these steps. “But it seems the BJP is totally out of touch with ground realities.”
He said the SAD was the oldest ally of the BJP but the government and the main driving principle behind the alliance was the SAD’s commitment to peace and communal harmony in Punjab and thee restoration of pride and dignity of Punjabis in general and Sikhs in particular in the country. “But with successive decisions, the present government has shown its callous insensitivity to minority sentiments and been indifferent to the imperatives of peace and communal haromny in the country, especially in Punjab.
On September 17, Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from the Modi government on the day when the farm bills were passed by the Lok Sabha.
Announcing her resignation on Twitter, she wrote: “I have resigned from the Union Cabinet in protest against anti-farmer ordinances and legislation. Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter and sister.”
Earlier that day, participating in the Lok Sabha debate on the farm bills, her husband and Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal said the farm bills will “destroy” the 50 years of hard work done by successive Punjab governments to build the agriculture sector.
While opposing the bills, he said they will “sound death knell for 20 lakh farmers, 3 lakh ‘mandi’ labourers, 30 lakh khet mazdoor and 30,000 ‘arhatiyas’ besides destroying food grain procurement system established over 50 years” in Punjab.
Days later, when asked about whether the Akali Dal would continue being part of the NDA, Sukhbir Singh Badal said it would depend on the fate of the bills in the Rajya Sabha.
ALSO READ | Harsimrat Badal’s U-turn: I’m not calling farm bills anti-farmer, it’s the farmers’ charge
ALSO READ | Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigns from Modi govt, says I’m protesting against anti-farmer bills
ALSO READ | Harsimrat Kaur resigns: Not farm bills, what possibly drove SAD to quit Modi govt