Harsimrat Kaur Badal Resigns From Modi’s Cabinet In Protest Against Farm Bills
She is the only SAD representative in the Modi government.
Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal has resigned from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet in protest against the three farm bills tabled by the Centre in Parliament.
“I have resigned from Union Cabinet in protest against anti-farmer ordinances and legislation. Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter and sister,” Badal said in a tweet.
The Shiromani Akali Dal, the oldest ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is voicing its opposition to the three farm bills that seek to remove restrictions on marketing farm products and allow cultivators to engage with private companies to sell their crops.
The SAD has said that it is against the bills as farmers are afraid that this would eventually lead to the government removing its minimum price guarantees.
In his speech during a discussion on two of the farm bills -- the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal said the proposed laws will "destroy" the 50 years of hard work done by successive Punjab governments to build the farm sector.
Badal is the only SAD representative in the Modi government.