Harsimrat quits over farm Bills

New Delhi, September 17

Union Food Processing Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal today resigned from the Union Cabinet in protest against the farm-related Bills. She walked out of the Lok Sabha when the House was taking up a 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, tabled by the NDA government to replace the ordinances issued earlier.

With farmers

I have resigned from the Union Cabinet in protest against the anti-farmer ordinances and legislation. Proud to stand with the farmers as their daughter and sister. - Harsimrat Kaur

Participating in the discussion, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal vehemently opposed the Bills, saying his party had been consistently opposing the ordinances and flagging concerns on the same.

Farm Bills passed

• SAD: Bills will ruin agri infrastructure, opposes
• Congress: Ravneet Singh Bittu, GS Aujla and Jasbir Singh Dimpa oppose
• Shiv Sena: Backs govt
• BJD: Send Bills to Standing Committee
• AAP, TMC & BSP members oppose
• Union Minister Tomar calls Bills ‘revolutionary’

He said these Bills would destroy the farm sector in Punjab and help the corporates. Even as Sukhbir threatened that his party MP and Union Cabinet Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal would resign if the Bills were passed, Speaker Om Birla switched off his microphone. Later, Harsimrat Badal, who was in the House, walked away and submitted her resignation letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Parliament House office. In a series of tweets, PM Narendra Modi said the Bills will benefit farmers, cautioning them against those trying to mislead them into thinking otherwise. — TNS