Chandigarh/ New Delhi:

Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal last night attacked the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after her party quit the alliance over the controversial farm bills, which cleared the parliament last week. In a tweet, she said the NDA was no longer the alliance “envisioned” by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. 

“If pain & protests of 3 cr punjabis fail to melt the rigid stance of GoI (Government Of India), it’s no longer the #NDA envisioned by Vajpayee ji & Badal sahab. An alliance that turns a deaf ear to its oldest ally & a blind eye to pleas of those who feed the nation is no longer in the interest of Pb, (sic),” her tweet read.

Her latest remarks come nearly a week after she resigned from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet as her party faced heat from farmers over its initial support to ally BJP’s farm sector bills. Ms Badal, who attended the cabinet meet that cleared the bills, stepped down shortly before the bills were passed by the Lok Sabha, tweeting that she was “Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter & sister”.

If Pain & Protests of 3 cr punjabis fail to melt the rigid stance of GoI, it’s no longer the #NDA envisioned by Vajpayee ji & Badal sahab. An alliance that turns a deaf ear to its oldest ally & a blind eye to pleas of those who feed the nation is no longer in the interest of Pb. https://t.co/OqU6at00Jx

— Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) September 26, 2020

On Saturday, the SAD became the third major NDA member to pull out of the grouping after the Shiv Sena and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) amid protests over the contentious farm bills that cleared the parliament last week. 

“The highest decision-making body of the Shiromani Akali Dal core committee at its emergency meeting tonight decided unanimously to pull out of the BJP -led NDA alliance,” Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, Harsimrat Badal’s husband said in Chandigarh. The contentious bills are “lethal and disastrous” for its key voter base of farmers, he stressed.  

Two bills related to the agricultural sector – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 – were cleared by the parliament on Sunday. A third bill – Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill – was passed in the absence of opposition amid fierce protests. 

While the opposition has labelled the bills as “anti-farmer”, farmers fear they would no longer get the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their produce. 

With the entry of private players into the agricultural sector, farmers will lose the bargaining powers, critics have claimed.