Harsimrat Badal resigns from Union Cabinet in protest against farm Bills

Aditi Tandon 

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 17

Union food processing minister and Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Thursday resigned from the Cabinet in protest against the farmers’ related Bills the government has brought in.

Harsimrat Badal walked out of Lok Sabha this evening when the House was taking up discussion on the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, that the NDA government has proposed in Parliament during the ongoing monsoon session, replacing the ordinances issued by it earlier.

Speaking on the Bills, Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal announced in the House that his party’s member in the Cabinet Harsimrat Badal would resign if the Bills were passed. Speaker Om Birla had switched off the microphone of Sukhbir Badal when he was making this announcement.

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Later, in protest against the Bills — which have brought the state of Punjab on the boil with farmers organisations up in arms, Harsimrat Badal, who was present in the House, walked out of the Lok Sabha and went to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to submit her resignation.

She had brought the resignation with her.