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Ex-Punjab CM Badal hits campaign trail, says farmers wrongly demonising Akali Dal
At a rally in Bathinda, the Akali Dal patriarch appeals to farmer unions protesting against 3 agriculture laws to acknowledge what he terms as party’s contribution to the welfare of peasantry
Five-time Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday said that the protesting farmer unions were wrongly demonising the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and appealed to them to acknowledge what he termed as the party’s “contribution to the welfare of the peasantry”.
At a political event in Bathinda to demand compensation for cotton growers for the loss caused due to the pink bollworm attack, the nonagenarian Akali patriarch termed Lok Sabha MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s resignation from the Union cabinet as their party’s commitment to fight for the cause of farmers.
The 93-year-old leader made his first public appearance in Punjab in the last over two years. “When new agriculture laws were being framed, Harsimrat advised the Centre to consult the farmers before finalising them. When the Union government did not pay heed to our appeals, ours was the only party that cast a vote against the Bills on the floor of the House. She quit the ministerial position in protest. Can there be a bigger contribution n than this?” he asked the farmer associations which have been opposing the SAD events.
The rally was held a month after SAD-BSP alliance was forced to shelve election campaign ‘Gall Punjab Di’ after farmer union activists created a ruckus at party president Sukhbir Singh Badal’s event in Moga on September 3.
Addressing the gathering, Sukhbir said the party would gherao the residence of chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi if the affected cotton farmers are not paid a compensation of ₹50,000 per acre within a week.
Touching on the panthic agenda, the Badal senior said the SAD was the real custodian of khalsa (Sikhism) and Punjab heritage that understands the aspirations of Punjabis. But he was quick to vouch for the “secular credentials” of the party, saying it had always given political representation to leaders from all faiths and castes.
Taking potshots at the Congress, he said, “It is a baseless allegation that then SAD government mishandled the incidents of sacrilege. The Congress should answer who was behind the attack on the Harmandir Sahib and anti-Sikh riots of 1984,” he said.
The 93-year-old spoke non-stop at the rally for 35-minutes. He, however, fumbled while greeting leaders from the dais as “friends from the BJP”, the Akali Dal’s former ally for 25 years.
The protest rally was well-attended but the party activists were unresponsive, a fact that was pointed out by Badal.
