By IT Correspondent
New Delhi, Sept 18:
As a sign of fissures between NDA and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the Union minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from the top post as a protest against the decision of the union government to bring three “anti-farmer” bills, even as Lok Sabha passed two farm bills on Thursday.
The bills -the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Farmers’ Produce Trade and commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, were deemed passed since the Opposition didn’t seek voting on any clause. The Congress, the DMK and the Left parties opposed the Bills and walked out of the House in protest.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal, she sent her resignation to the Prime Minister’s Office on late Thursday evening. Soon after, she in a tweet said she has resigned from the Union Cabinet and feels “proud” to stand by the farmers against these “anti-farmer” legislations.
The problem between the BJP and SAD had started when the ordinances were discussed in the cabinet meeting. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, only union minister from her party, had protested against the ordinances when it was taken up for discussion in the union cabinet and it was made clear to the senior BJP leadership that SAD would not be able to support the ordinances.
SAD leaders complained that no senior minister or BJP leader discussed the three ordinances before the decision was being taken by the union government. If we are in the alliances then such unilateral steps should not be taken, a SAD leader said.
What are the farm bills?
On Monday, the Modi 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’. These bills are aimed to replace the ordinances promulgated by the government in the past.
The government has argued that these measures will free farmers from the existing government-controlled markets and prices, and that they can enter into agreements with private parties for a better price of their produce. However, farmers are apprehensive and fear that once these bills are passed by Parliament, they would pave the way for dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system and leave the farming community at the “mercy” of big corporates. Over the last few weeks, farmers have organised protests in several parts of Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, Rajasthan, among others, against these bills.
It may be recalled that last year the fissures between the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and SAD had surfaced after the passage of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 in the Parliament. SAD had urged the Modi government to make the “necessary amends” in the Act to include Muslims in its ambit. SAD had also expressed its resentment against NRC. The Shiv Sena has already severed its ties with NDA and its lone minister Arvind Sawant resigned from the union cabinet early this year. In Maharashtra the Shiv Sena is running the Government in alliance with the NCP and Congress.
