Making another effort to stop the implementation of agriculture legislations by the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), NDA’s prime ally, on Sunday urged the President Ram Nath Kovind not to put his seal of approval on the Bills passed by the Parliament on the farmers’ produce marketing.
“I beseech you to please stand by the beleaguered and toiling farmers, farm labour (khet mazdoors), Mandi labour, and Dalits in their hour of need. They are facing exploitation and look up to you to exercise your discretion as the highest executive in the country and come to their rescue by not signing these bills so that they do not acquire the finality of an Act,” said SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal in a passionate plea to the President.
He added, “Failing this, the poor and the beleaguered classes and their future generations will never forgive us.”
Sukhbir has requested the President to grant a personal audience to a delegation of senior leaders of his party all of whom are themselves farmers. As a result of this, Sukhbir’s proposed visit to Darbar Sahib is being rescheduled.
SAD chief has also appealed to the President to return the Bills to the Parliament for reconsideration so that “the hasty decisions taken in a fleeting moment of overzealous stubbornness do not leave permanent scars on the nation’s psyche nor inflict a deep wound on the long-term vital interests of the farmers, the Farm and Mandi labour and Dalits”. “There is still time to reconsider this decision and undo the damage it threatens to cause to our overall national interests, especially at this critical juncture when the country’s economy requires social stability, peace, and harmony to recover from the traumatic after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
Sukhbir said that he had been “deeply saddened” by what happened in the Parliament on Sunday. “Democracy is not about majoritarian oppression but about consultation, conciliation, and consensus. All three democratic virtues were ignored in today’s proceedings. This distortion can only be corrected with a Presidential intervention,” said the Akali president.
