Punjab CM attacks Akali Dal on Farm Bill, asks Party to list its pro-farmer initiatives

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday came down heavily on Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal and Lok Sabha MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal for 'perpetuating lies' in the past few days on agriculture bills and said they had 'openly and shamelessly supported' these since the Ordinances were brought in. The Chief Minister questioned the Akalis alliance with the NDA and asked the SAD to list 'one pro-farmer initiative' persuaded by it with the BJP-led Centre in the past six years.

Punjab Chief Minister in a statement raised ten questions for the Badals pertaining to the new agriculture bills. The CM said that SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal had been fabricating lies on farm bills, which have been completely exposed. “Did either of you even once call the ordinances anti-farmer till they were presented in the Lok Sabha?” the CM Singh asked Badals.

READ | What of Akali Dal's NDA future after Harsimrat quits Modi cabinet? Sukhbir Badal answers

"Was Harsimrat not part of the Union Cabinet when the ordinances were introduced without consulting any of the stakeholders, considering that one of the reasons cited by her for her resignation was that the Centre failed to address her demand for discussions with these stakeholders?" he asked.

READ |Navjot Sidhu issues typical first reply as Farmers bills trigger Harsimrat's Cabinet exit

The Chief Minister further asked whether Harsimrat Badal, before her resignation, assured the farmers that she was trying to persuade the central government to address their concerns.

"Why does she continue to describe the concerns as those of the farmers and not her own if she is truly concerned about the destructive impact of the new laws on them? Does this mean she herself still believes those atrocious legislations to be pro-farmer, contrary to what she is trying to falsely project to the farmers?" he said.

"Why is SAD still part of NDA?"

"Why is SAD still part of the NDA given that, by Harsimrat's own admission, the BJP-led government failed to address the farmers' concerns she put before them?" Singh questioned. The Chief Minister asked the SAD whether they can cite even one pro-farmer initiative that the party persuaded the BJP-led government at the Centre to take over the past six years.

The CM further asked if Sukhbir not state clearly and unambiguously at the all-party meeting convened by him (CM) on the issue that the Ordinances were not anti-farmer and would actually benefit the farmers. He also asked whether Harsimrat Badal or Sukhbir Badal was present in any of the meetings of the high-powered committee, on which they are making baseless claims of his government's stand and responses. He further said that the Akalis and the Badals will not be able to offer reasonable explanation or rational answer to any of his questions. 

READ | Harsimrat Kaur Badal issues first response after Cabinet exit, launches attack on Congress

'Farmers will not forgive them'

The people of Punjab especially the farmers, will not forgive them, the Chief Minister said. "The ordinances, which you had been shamefacedly supporting all through till you decided to back off under political compulsions of the fear of losing your farmers’ vote-bank, were never discussed or even mentioned at the high-powered meetings a fact on which your coalition partners either deliberately kept in you in dark or which you consciously choose to ignore in your own petty interest,” the CM told the Badals.

The Congress has maintained a consistent stand against the ordinances which the Centre introduced on the sly amid the pandemic and then pushed through the Lok Sabha by the sheer brute majority, Chief Minister added. Lambasting the Badals further the CM said the duo should stop lying on such a crucial issue, and instead, come out in the open fight against the NDA coalition by withdrawing from the alliance. The CM added that Badal's claims of standing shoulder to shoulder with farmers were 'hollow and false' as long as they continued to lie on the subject and remained a part of the 'anti-farmer' Central Government.

READ | 'Harsimrat Kaur resigned out of compulsion; SAD is a burden to NDA': Punjab Congress chief

(With inputs from agencies)