Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday announced to boycott the President’s address to be held before the budget session on January 29 to support the farmers and in protest against the three black farm laws.
Underlining that AAP has been opposing the three anti-farmer laws passed by the BJP Government since day one, party’s state unit president and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann said: “AAP’s leadership, under the national convener Arvind Kejriwal, has decided to boycott the President’s address in the Parliament. All three AAP’s Rajya Sabha MPs and Lok Sabha MP will boycott this session.”
Mann said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP stands besides the protesting farmers at the borders as ‘sevadars’. “AAP had been opposing three black farm laws since the beginning and would continue to do so till the Modi Government repeals these black laws,” he said.
Meanwhile, SAD also announced to boycott the President’s address to protest against the “adamant manner” in which the Central Government was bent on implementing the three “hated” agricultural acts. At the same time, Akali Dal thanked the like minded parties for showing solidarity with SAD in boycotting Friday’s joint session.
“SAD is a party of farmers. We have always stood up for the cause of the farming community. In the present situation when the Central Government is unmoved by the suffering of the community which has been agitating since months against the Agri Acts, we feel there is no responsibility on our part to attend the President’s address and hence we are boycotting the same,” said senior SAD leaders including MPs Balwinder Singh Bhundur and Naresh Gujral as well as senior leader Prem Singh Chandumajra.
Describing the Agri laws as the biggest present day danger, the senior leaders said: “The tallest leaders of the region, be it Choudhary Chhotu Ram, Choudhary Charan Singh or Parkash Singh Badal, have always stood for the cause of the peasantry. He asserted that the SAD would not only continue to support the Kisan Andolan and would also strive to ensure it was victorious.
Chandumajra said that SAD and its president Sukhbir Singh Badal had been in contact with senior leaders from likeminded regional parties. “We have reached out to the Trinamool Congress, DMK and the Shiv Sena besides others. We all feel that the Agri laws, which were bulldozed through Parliament in the last session, are not only unconstitutional but also anti-people. We also feel that the Central Government is encroaching upon the powers of the States by legislating on an issue which was a State subject,” he said.
DON’T ADOPT ARROGANT, ADAMANT ATTITUDE: SAD TO CENTRE
Former MP Chandumajra said that the ‘kesari nishan’ which was being subject to a defamation campaign was a symbol of pride and had always been so even before independence. “We want to make it clear that the Kisan Andolan is not a fight by any particular class of people or those belonging to any one religion but that of the people at large. We appeal to the Centre to recognize this truth and not adopt an arrogant and adamant attitude and repeal the three Agricultural Acts immediately,” he added.
Akali MPs Bhundur and Gujral said that the Centre should not spoil the peaceful atmosphere by resorting to high handedness to suppress the Kisan Andolan. They said that instead of doing this, the Central Government should resume talks with the farmer organizations and break the current deadlock.
