Resignation beginning of struggle, SAD will stand by farmers: Harsimrat

In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat after resigning from the Union Cabinet, senior SAD leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal said that it was just the beginning of a struggle, and that her party will always stand by the farmers until the government does not dispel their apprehensions on the contentious Bills.

New Delhi: A day after resigning from Union Cabinet in protest against the farm bills, SAD leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Friday said she felt "saddened" that she could not relay the voice of the farmers to the government.

Speaking exclusively to ETV Bharat, Harsimrat said that her resignation was just the beginning of a long struggle, and stressed that her party would stand by the farmers until their fears are not dispelled.

"This is the beginning of a long struggle, we will fight with the farmers till the government does not dispel their apprehensions. SAD is with the farmers of Punjab and the entire nation," she said.

The SAD leader said that over the past six years, her aim was to take the farmers' problems to the government and get them addressed, but she felt sad that she could not do so now.

"For the past six years, my aim was to take the people's issues to the government and make the government take decisions which the people wanted. I have the satisfaction that I was able to do this. Many of our serious issues were addressed by PM Modi, and I have been saying that he did so much of Punjab and Sikhs that no previous government ever did," she said.

"However, I am sad that for the past two and a half months, despite my efforts, I was unable to explain to the government the apprehensions of the farmers. I was not even able to completely satisfy the farmers. In the end, when I had to choose between the government and the farmers, I was pretty clear that I had to stand with the people who elected me to the Parliament," she added.

Read:Agriculture-related bills should have been brought after taking farmers into confidence: Harsimrat Kaur Badal

Harsimrat Badal said that the assurances which the government is giving to the farmers now, could have been given earlier.

"The assurances that the government is giving today, could have been done earlier. Maybe the situation would not have come to this," she said.

Emphasising that the government should not rush with these bills, Badal said it should be referred to a select committee of Parliament and the farmers must be taken into confidence on these proposed legislations.

"The bills have to be passed in the Rajya Sabha as well. We will try and persuade the government to send them to a select committee. We will continue the fight," she said.

The SAD leader went on to claim that many from the BJP in Punjab and the Sangh itself were opposed to the legislations.

"Many from the BJP in Punjab were against it, many from the sangh as well. They wanted me to do something about it," she said.

On Punjab Chief Minister and Congress leader Amarinder Singh calling her resignation "too little too late" Harsimrat said that it was Chief Minster who was "too much for too long."

Read:Harsimrat Kaur Badal's resignation is mere gimmick: Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa

"He (Amarinder Singh) himself is 'too much for too long'. The people of Punjab can't wait to get rid of him, they look forward to that day. They want a people's government, not a farmhouse government which is run by Pakistanis across the border," she said.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who first became Union Minister for Food Processing in 2014 and retained the portfolio in the second term of the BJP-led NDA government starting 2019, resigned from the Union Cabinet in protest against the farm bills.

Her husband and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal strongly opposed the bills in Lok Sabha, claiming these proposed legislations will "destroy" the agriculture sector in Punjab, and announced that Harsimrat Kaur Badal will quit the government in protest against these three bills.

The government presented these bills as pro-farmers, saying these will ensure that farmers get better prices for their produce and do not get subjected to regulations of 'mandis'.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had said in the Lok Sabha that farmers will be free to sell their produce to anyone and these bills will increase competition and promote private investment, which will help in the development of farm infrastructure and generate employment.

However, opposition parties have slammed the bills as "anti-farmers", claiming that the agriculture sector will be left to the fate of corporate interests.

Read:"Too little, too late": Capt Amarinder Singh on Harsimrat's resignation