After its lone minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) quit the party, the Shiromani Akali Dal on Saturday said it was quitting the alliance due to differences over the three controversial farm sector bills.
“The highest decision-making body of the Shiromani Akali Dal core committee at its emergency meeting here tonight decided unanimously to pull out of the BJP -led NDA alliance,” said Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Badal said that the decision was taken because of the centre’s stubborn refusal to give statutory legislative guarantees to protect assured marketing of farmers crops on MSP (Minimum Support Price) and its continued insensitivity to Punjabi and Sikh issues like excluding Punjabi language as official language in Jammu and Kashmir.
Akalis will continue to stand by its core principles of peace, communal harmony and guard the interest of Punjab and Punjabis and Sikhs and farmers in particular. The decision has been taken in consultation with the people of Punjab, especially party workers and farmers, Badal said.
The lone Union Minister of Akali Dal in the BJP-led NDA government Harsimrat Kaur Badal had resigned from the cabinet mark protest against the farm bills.
Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal had earlier said in the Lok Sabha that Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the Minister for Food Processing, will resign in protest as the government tabled two more farm-sector related bills in the lower house amid widespread protests by farmers in Punjab and Haryana.
After the resignation, the pressure was mounted on another BJP’s partner in Haryana Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) to resign on the farmers’ issue.
Agitating against the farm bills, the farmers in Punjab and Haryana had took roads to protest against the bills and demanded the government to roll back them.
PM Modi had assured the farmers that the system of MSP will continue as it used to be even after the introduction of the three agriculture bills.
“I want to make it clear that the new agriculture laws are not against mandis, work will remain same in the agricultural mandis,” PM said.
“After the historic changes in the field of agriculture in India, some people are feeling that the control is going out of their hands. This is the reason why they are misleading the farmers over the MSP issue,” he added.
“Those who were doing business in the agriculture sector, they faced issues due to some of the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act. With the changing times, the changes in the Act have also been made,” PM said.