New Delhi (NVI): Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal today resigned in protest against the three farm bills tabled in the Parliament by the Centre.
“I have resigned from Union Cabinet in protest against anti-farmer ordinances and legislation. Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter & sister,” the senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader said in a tweet.
I have resigned from Union Cabinet in protest against anti-farmer ordinances and legislation. Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter & sister.
— Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) September 17, 2020
Sukhbir Singh Badal, former chief minister of Punjab and parliamentarian earlier said that Harsimrat will resign from the government to protest farm bills. Later in the evening, she sent her resignation to the Prime Minister’s Office.
The three ordinances which have become a bone of contention between leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 which got passed in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
There were differences between SAB and BJP when the ordinances were discussed in the cabinet meeting. Harsimrat Kaur Badal was the only Union Minister who 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.
Senior leaders of SAD have been protesting against the three ordinances as the party leadership believes that it is against the interest of farmers.
-ARK
