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.
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.
