New Delhi: A day after resignation of Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal from his cabinet on farmers’ issues, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday strongly defended the new measures of his government saying those were all necessary reforms strategy.
“These Bills are like Raksha Kawach....These reforms will give farmers a new freedom to sell their produce and also give them a series of new ‘vikalps’ alternatives,” Prime Minister said addressing a function marking launch of new rail projects for poll-bound Bihar.
“I would take this opportunity to congratulate all the farmers in the country for the passage of these Bills,” he said.
“It was utmost necessary to bring these bills as they can do away with the middlemen who used to eat up the lion’s share of business between the farmers and the consumers,” he said.
However, without naming the Congress party, he made a veiled attack on those “who have been misleading the farmers “ and have enjoyed their days in power.
“Yeh log Kisano sey jhoot bol rahen haen (These people are telling untruth to the farmers),” Mr Modi said at a virtual meeting attended among others by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and central ministers such as Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The Prime Minister said these parties take different stance during elections and try to win their support “talk big often in writing and put it in election Manifesto also”.
“But they will forget about the promises after the elections...,” Modi said adding, “now that the BJP-led NDA government has come out with concrete steps to help the farmers, they are only spreading falsehood”.
The opposition parties are opposing the necessary agrarian reforms now.
“These measures are being opposed just for the sake of it.....But these people should keep it in mind the farmers in our country are aware and well informed of things,” the Prime Minister said.
“Some people are not quite happy with the new opportunities coming in for the farmers,” Modi said.
Will BJP plunge into Punjab politics without Badals ??
Charity begins at home. So, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks about a politics without ‘dynastic’ families – has he disturbed some unexpected quarters?
Are two dynastic-based political parties uncomfortable with Modi’s ‘New India’ politics where one has to come up the ladder the hard way?
The Shiv Sena, ironically BJP’s oldest ally in Maharashtra, is already singing another tune.
Come to Punjab and the Union Food Processing Industry Minister and Akali ‘bahu’ – Harsimrat Kaur Badal –
staged a walkout in Lok Sabha on Thursday and quit the Modi cabinet. Obviously, the issue is
said to be three contentious farm Bills.
"I have resigned from the Union Cabinet in protest against anti-farmer ordinances and legislation.
Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter and sister," Ms Badal tweeted.
The three contentious Bills in questions are - The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance.
Hours before announcing her decision to quit the cabinet, Ms Badal in her missive in the micro blogging site had written - "Warm birthday wishes to our hon'ble PM Narendra Modi. Your tireless efforts and dedication to make
India 'Atamnirbhar (self reliant)' are inspirational for all of us".
But one of the Bills in debate seeks to ensure opportunities for farmers to sell their produce in open markets. So, what’s wrong in that? Well, the commission agents – who have been dominating the agri marketing scene for ages in Maharashtra or
Punjab – have reasons to be upset.
Punjab has over 12 lakh farming families and quite a substantial 28,000 registered commission agents.
But if the issue is political, has the BJP taken a risk in antagonizing the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which is formally
in alliance with the saffron outfit since the 1990s?
In a crude sense, one can wonder can there be a political life for the BJP in Sikh-stronghold Punjab without Badals?
Come to hardcore politics, no party in Indian politics is as much an ear-on-ground outfit as the BJP.
Thus, the whispering heard even a few months back that the saffron party leaders have been ‘interacting’ with S S Dhindsa, a senior Akali Dal leader who quit the Badals-led party, makes a lot of sense as in September 2020. In the context of Harsimrat Kaur’s resignation, one also finds logic in BJP trying to reach out to another Akali dissident R S Brahmpura. Who has floated Akali Dal (Taksali).
The BJP-led regime in the centre played a soft ‘outreach’ politics when it awarded the veteran Dhindsa with Padma Bhushan in 2019.
The grapevine is Sukhbir Singh Badal and his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal were not aware of the central government’s intent.
Of course, personally Modi has always held senior Badal – Parkash Singh Badal – in high esteem and during filing of nominations from Varanasi last year even touched his feet in front of the cameras.
Looking from another angle, it is pretty clear that the Akali Dal's decision to quit the Modi government also had political compulsion as villagers in Malwa region in Punjab have warned they will not let any leader who supports the three contentious Bills enter the villages.
Peasantry certainly is the ‘backbone’ of the Akali Dal vote-bank in Punjab and Badals could ill-afford alienating the masses further especially after the party suffered humiliating defeat in 2017.
The joke in Punjab is Akali’s drubbing was worse than the Congress defeat in 2014 polls. Akali strength was reduced to just 15 seats out of 117. In contrast, the AAP had won 20 seats.
In 2019 Lok Sabha polls too, NDA show was not at all good and Akali Dal could only win two seats - Ms Harsimrat (Bathinda)
and her husband Sukhbir Singh Badal (from Ferozpur).
The Akali Dal sources say Badals knew of their losing ground in Punjab and hence the party has been showing interest lately to expand its electoral base outside Punjab.
But Sikhs being one of the pragmatic of Indian communities, in any part of the country – they have befriended local parties, learnt the local language and even made it to assemblies and Parliament.
The BJP’s own S S Ahluwalia, a prominent Sikh Parliamentarian, represents
Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha seat having wrested it from Trinamool in 2019.
Earlier, he represented Darjeeling on a BJP ticket.
Rachhpal Singh is a Trinamool leader who represented Tarakeshwar assembly constituency and was Minister for Planning under Mamata Banerjee.
In Odisha, two Sikh legislators – one belonging to Biju Janata Dal and the other from Congress - were elected
in 2019.
India's Sikh population at present would be around 21 accounting for 1.75 per cent of the country's total population.
Out of the total Sikhs in India, over 77 per cent are concentrated in the state of Punjab bordering Pakistan.
The country's national capital - New Delhi – certainly has a substantial number of Sikh populations.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa of Akali Dal represents Rajouri Garden constituency and has lately made news when he sought to support the BJP stance on the issue of drug menace in Bollywood.
He has lodged a formal complaint with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) against filmmaker Karan Johar.
Of course, Sirsa has backed Ms Badal’s move to resign to protect the interest of farmers.
"....her action shows her commitment to farmers," Sirsa tweeted.
Punjab and Peasantry politics: Harsimrat Kaur Badal quits Modi Cabinet
"I have resigned from the Union Cabinet in protest against anti-farmer ordinances and legislation. Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter and sister," Ms Badal tweeted.
The three contentious Bills in questions are - The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020.
 |
| Snap: Harsimrat's Twitter post |
Irony is the resignation of a woman Minister and a Sikh leader came on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 70th birthday, September 17, Thursday.
The Lower House of Parliament, Lok Sabha passed the two Bills — ‘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’.
Sukhbir Singh Badal later said “the Bills will ruin what we have created as agriculture infrastructure in Punjab in the past 50 years”.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Food Processing Industry Minister, is a Sikh woman leader hailing from the agrarian state of Punjab which in 1980s was hit by Sikh militancy.
Punjab is also known as the rice bowl of India and the state had played a stellar role in kicking off India's highly successful green revolution in the mid-sixties and 1970s. Prior to that - since its independence in 1947, India had faced food shortage also.
The Green Revolution in India began in the mid-1960s marking a transition from traditional agriculture in India and the introduction of high-yielding varieties of seeds and the associated agricultural techniques, says Wiipedia.
Hours before announcing her decision to quit the cabinet, Ms Badal in her missive in the micro blogging site had written - "Warm birthday wishes to our hon'ble PM Narendra Modi. Your tireless efforts and dedication to make India 'Atamnirbhar (self reliant)' are inspirational for all of us".
"Wishing you good health and success in your vision of taking our nation to greater heights".
This is definitely a setback to Prime Minister and the BJP.
For the first time in six years and more when Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister of the world's largest democracy in May 2014, rebellion has struck his cabinet.
Ms Bdal's lawmaker husband and Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal said his party was "never consulted" on the three Ordinaces/ legislations and his wife (Harsimrat) had told the government categorically that farmers’ in two agrarian states of Punjab and Haryana had reservations on the Bills.
Justifying her decision to quit the Modi cabinet, Harsimrat Kaur Badal said, "Efforts should have been made toreach out to the agitating farmers as they are protesting despite Covid19 for the last months. I have decided tobe with the farmers who consider me aa their daughter and sister and sent to Indian parliament".
The development is certainly a setback for the BJP leadership and for the Prime Minister as this is the first instance of a 'challenge' to his government's decision by a member of the central cabinet.
Moreover, it will give a political signal that the opposition allegations all along that the Modi government was pursuing an 'anti-farmers' and pro-corporate policy' is true.
Akali Dal, a party essentially of minority Sikhs, are one of the oldest allies of the ruling pro-Hindutva BJP, and the parting of ways could have its impact nationally for the Modi government.
The Akali Dal leadership has formally not yet quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) but pressure would be mounting.
Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh said the resignation of Ms Badal was too little and too late.
It was a case of shedding of 'crocodile tears' and if Akalis are sincerely opposed to Modi's policies, they should quit the NDA combine as well.
Akalis are BJP's alliance in Punjab since early 1990s when the saffron outfit did not have considerable base in the country and was also held in 'suspicion' for its Hindu-chauvinistic approaches and agenda.
As it is, BJP's Hindu chauvinistic politics has time and again subjected Prime Minister Modi and his government to sharp antagonism and strong criticism from two other religious minorities - Muslims and Christians.
India's Sikh population at present would be around 21 accounting for 1.75 per cent of the country's total population. Out of the total Sikhs in India, over 77 per cent are concentrated in the state of Punjab bordering Pakistan.
The country's national capital - New Delhi also has a substantial number of Sikh population.
The Akali Dal's decision to quit the Modi government also had political compulsion as villagers in Malwa region Punjab have warned they will not let any leader who supports the three contentious Bills enter some villages.
Peasantry forms the backbone of the Akali Dal vote-bank in Punjab, says a report in 'Indian Express'and points out that after suffering humiliating defeat in 2017 -- just 15 seats out of 117,the Akali Dal in fact could ill afford further alienating the agrarian voters.
One of the Bills has good intention as that would allow farmers to sell their produce in the open market.
But the existing system allowed commission agents to get their share of 2.5 per cent cut.
Farmers fear they will no longer get paid at the Minimum Support Price that is decided by the central government from time to time.
Recent data showed in Punjab alone there are over 12 lakh farming families and quite a substantial 28,000 registered commission agents.
Many Jats and other Hindus are commission agents and they too would be affected by the new legislations.
A large part of the state’s economy rests on funds infused by central procurement agencies such as Food Corporation of India (FCI). The lion’s share of wheat and rice grown in Punjab is procured by or for FCI. In the 2019-2020 rabi marketing season, Punjab supplied 129.1 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of the 341.3 LMT wheat procured for the central pool. In 2018-19, it contributed 113.3 LMT of rice to the total 443.3 LMT in the central pool.
Now, protesters fear the FCI will no longer be able to procure from the state mandis, which will rob the middleman/commission agent/arhatiya of his 2.5% commission. The state itself will lose the 6% commission it used to charge on the procurement agency.
The ordinances that allow farmers to sell their produce in the open market deal a blow to the farmers, mainly Jats, the commission agents, who are largely urban Hindus, and landless labourers,” said Parmod Kumar.
In January, the Akalis had supported a resolution in the Punjab Assembly against the central Citizenship (Amendment) Act, after having voted in its favour in Parliament. Later, the party decided against fighting the Delhi Assembly elections over its differences with BJP on this issue.
Earlier this week in Parliament, Sukhbir Badal objected to non-inclusion of Punjabi in the new languages Bill for the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, saying it was a language spoken by locals as far back as the Khalsa Raj.
Congress protest:
Congress MPs Ravneet Singh Bittu, Amar Singh, Jasbir Singh Gill and Gurjeet Singh Aujla burnt copies of 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, accusing the BJP-led NDA government of compromising the interests of farmers by diluting the existing food grain procurement procedure and the MSP regime.
Gill and Aujla also wore black robes in opposition.
The robes read: “I am a farmer, a farm worker. Do not betray my interests.”
Is BJP flirting with a breakaway Akali group led by S S Dhindsa and opened another channel ?
ends
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