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New Delhi:
Akali Dal chief Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who resigned from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cupboard on Thursday in protest over the farm payments, instructed NDTV on Friday that farmers had been involved about being squeezed out of the agriculture sector by non-public gamers.
Mrs Badal stated a “rustic farmer”, one amongst many with whom she had held consultations over the previous a number of weeks, supplied Reliance Jio’s aggressive market technique for instance to drive house his level.
“A rustic farmer gave an example to us… ‘Jio came in, they gave free phones. When everyone bought those phones and got dependent on these phones, the competition was wiped out and Jio jacked up their rates. This is exactly what the corporates are going to do’,” Mrs Badal narrated.
Mrs Badal instructed NDTV that she had repeatedly requested the Narendra Modi authorities to hearken to issues raised by the farmers and maintain open discussions with them earlier than tabling the three payments that had been handed by the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
“I have been saying please don’t bring in a law which is perceived as anti-farmer. How can you bring in something without taking into consideration the people’s perception? “I attempted to persuade them however my phrases weren’t sufficient. Maybe my voice was not loud sufficient,” she said.
Mrs Badal said she resigned to stand in solidarity with the farmers. However, she refused to describe the Narendra Modi government’s policies as “anti-farmer”. “If Prime Minister Modi’s insurance policies had been anti-farmer, Akali Dal would not have been a part of the federal government for the previous six years,” she said.
The Akali Dal, which is a founder-member of the BJP-led NDA that is in power at the centre, has come under attack from Punjab Congress for continuing to support a government pushing “anti-farmer” policies.
The Akali Dal had said that it would not exit the NDA but continue to offer support from the outside.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh yesterday dismissed Mrs Badal’s resignation as a gimmick.
“Congress is synonymous with corruption and Amarinder Singh is synonymous to dhokha (fraud). He was a part of three conferences, the place he concurred to the payments,” Mrs Badal hit back today, pointing out that the Congress, in its 2019 Lok Sabha election manifesto, had promised to do what the farm bills intend to.
The bills, which will now be taken up by the Rajya Sabha, will replace three ordinances issued earlier this year but have triggered fierce protests from farmers, particularly those in Congress-ruled Punjab.
The government has said the proposed laws are meant to help small and marginal farmers. The bills seek to empower farmers through written agreements for the supply of farm produce. Farmers can sell their produce at competitive prices anywhere in the country, the government has said.
However, the bills have stirred protests because farmers fear they will no longer get paid at the Minimum Support Price. Opposition parties have claimed the agriculture sector will be left to the fate of corporate interests.
Mrs Badal pointed to these apprehensions, saying that farmers feel they will be “on the mercy of those non-public gamers”. “This is the apprehension they’ve. The centre ought to discuss to them to clear this worry,” she said.
Today Prime Minister Modi hit out at what he said was a “misinformation” campaign against the bills and that farmers would continue to get a MSP.
However, Mrs Badal said verbal assurances were not enough.
“Fake information is being unfold that wheat and rice and so on is not going to be procured by authorities businesses from farmers. This is an absolute lie, utterly flawed and an try and deceive farmers,” he stated forcefully.
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