Staying away from the active political scene for over a year, the senior Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday made his presence felt in his distinct style to support the protesting farmers in their agitation against the Centre’s three agriculture-related bills.

Former Cabinet Minister, Sidhu, declared that “Punjab, Punjabiyat and every Punjabi” are with the peasants,

“farming is the soul of Punjab and attack on the soul would not be tolerated”.

Slamming the BJP-led Central Government for bringing the farm bills, Sidhu took to Twitter, more than a year after he resigned from the Punjab Cabinet. “Farming is the soul of Punjab, the wounds of the body can heal but an attack on our sould, our existence will not be tolerated. The war trumpet says Inqilab Zindabad, Punjab, Punjabiyat and each Punjabi are with the farmers,” he tweeted in a series of tweets.

Maintaining that the farmers “are the pride and identity of every Punjabi”, Sidhu asked the farmers to prepare for a struggle against the Government which has “snatched their rights”.

Taking a jibe on the rivals in his philosophical style, the cricketer-turned-politician said, “The Governments time and again kept on making mistakes that they kept cleaning the mirror while the dirt is actually on their face”.

Interestingly, Sidhu, who is ‘upset’ with his Congress Government in Punjab, last used Twitter on September 25, 2019, to declare that he vacated his official bungalow as the Cabinet Minister after resigning from the Capt Amarinder Singh-led Cabinet.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who belongs to Punjab, resigned as the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries on Thursday to protest a new legislation that sought to liberalise the agricultural markets.

Several farmers’ outfits in Punjab are protesting against the farm bills the government has tabled in Parliament during the ongoing monsoon session. Farmers have expressed apprehension that the proposed legislations would pave the way for dismantling of the minimum support price system and they would be at the “mercy” of big corporates.

The Lok Sabha passed the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill on Thursday. Earlier, it had earlier passed the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill.