Badal: Not party to anything anti-farmer
Item
Title
Badal: Not party to anything anti-farmer
Description
Chandigarh: After his daughter-in-law and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur resigned from the Union cabinet, SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal on Saturday expressed his “immense satisfaction” over his party’s stand to “save beleaguered peasantry”. The five-time Punjab chief minister, in a press statement, said “lure of office means nothing to an Akali”, but he kept away from the contentious issue whether SAD would continue its alliance with BJP or not. He had earlier tried to convince farmers in favour of three farm ordinances, when these were brought in force in June. “The party tried to act as a bridge so as to find an amicable way to fully accommodate the farmers’ interests. But I am glad that when that did not seem possible, and a line had to be drawn, SAD stood on the right side of the line and did the only thing that its proud heritage demanded – quit the government,” said Badal. He added that the SAD could never be a party to anything which harms the interests of the farmers. The nonagenarian leader made an appeal to all Punjabis and all political parties to stand with farmers. The former chief minister said that agriculture was the backbone of the country’s economy and if farmers and agricultural economy suffer, the whole economy, including trade and industry would suffer too. Badal claimed that SAD at countless times, as during the Emergency, had turned down offers of power as a price for silence against injustice. “We always spurned such offers and preferred to stand by the country and principles, and filled jails. That tradition will always live on,” he added. Badal also praised his party’s core committee of taking a decision to quit the Union cabinet and said that it was a proud and landmark moment in the party’s long history.
Publisher
The Times of India
Date
2020-09-20
Coverage
Chandigarh