With farmers having expressed their determination to carry on with their protest against new farm laws amid the COVID-19 pandemic, former Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal has said that it is responsibility of central government to send them back by meeting their demands. She said the Centre was "adamant" and "black laws" have forced the farmers to continue their protest which started in November last year on the borders of Delhi.
She raised questions over rallies held by BJP and other political parties in the five assembly polls that concluded in April and said that it was wrong to call farmers protesting against farm laws as "super spreaders". She said the government also decided to go ahead with Kumbh mela.
"Farmers are being called super spreaders. If they are super spreaders, what were the elections rallies then? What was kumbh mela. While Kumbh is a matter of faith, to make farmers go home was in hands of the government. These laws have not been implemented and neither will be," Harsimrat Badal told ANI.
"Kannon lagu karne ki koshish kariye to dekhiye kaise aag lagegi (Try to implement the laws and see how there will be fire). Why not take these laws back? Send farmers back home. Can we be a part of such a government? Prakash Singh Badal is called the messiah of farmers. He had been in prison for their rights,"she said. .
The Shiroman Akali Dal leader said that there are 500 protesting farmers have died and claimed that ministers "have not uttered a word of sympathy for them".
"Farmers who are sitting on protest for the past six months are not there for fun. Ask any minister to sit in their garden for two days. Punjab is called the granary of the country and its model is being destroyed by the Centre by compelling them to come on roads. They cannot go back home. Empathise with their helplessness.The Centre is adamant, black laws have forced them to sit. I raised the issue in the Cabinet and in Parliament while warning them of consequences. The laws have not been implemented yet and because of adamant behaviour of centre 500 farmers have lost their lives," she alleged.
Speaking about her resignation from the union cabinet, Harsimrat Badal said she did it for farmers.
She referred to Operation Bluestar and said that at that there were Sikhs in some high constitutional offices but "no resignations happened".
"On the other hand, I resigned immediately to stand with farmers," she said.
Farmers have been protesting on the borders of the national capital since November 26 last year against the three newly enacted farm laws - Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. The Supreme Court had stayed their implementation in January this year.
Earlier in the day, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said farmers protesting against the central farm laws at the borders of the national capital will not leave Delhi at any cost.
( With inputs from ANI )
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