The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has accepted the resignation of Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the Union Council of Ministers, with immediate effect, under clause (2) of Article 75 of the Constitution.
Further, as advised by the Prime Minister, The President has directed that Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Cabinet Minister, be assigned the charge of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, in addition to his existing portfolios. Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet on Thursday as AKALI DAL decided to oppose the agriculture bills.
Ms Badal 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”.
Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Badal said for now, they would support the government from outside but oppose “anti-farmer policies”. But amid Congress pressure about the continuation of its alliance with the BJP, he said the matter will be decided later at a party meeting.
The Produce Trade and Commerce and the Price Assurance and Farm Services bills sailed through Lok Sabha as the opposition parties walked out. Most of the opposition parties and some of those that lend issue-based support to the government, including Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal and the TRS, were opposed to the bills.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said Harsimrat Kaur’s resignation was “too little too late”. Pointing to the Akali Dal’s decision to continue as part of the ruling NDA, he said the resignation was nothing more than a”gimmick” to fool the farmers of Punjab.
Farmers in Punjab will protest against the central government’s three farm-related bills by staging a three-day ‘rail roko’ agitation across the state from September 24-26, a farmers’ body has announced.
“We have decided to hold a rail roko agitation from September 24 to 26 in the state against the farm bills,” Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher said.
Already, different farmer organisations in Punjab have given a call for a ‘bandh’ on September 25 in protest against the three farm bills. The farmers argue that the legislations would lead to the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, leaving them at the ‘mercy’ of big corporates.
The government, however, says that the bills will help farmers across the country get a better market for their price and produce.
Nevertheless, farmers in both Punjab and Haryana have been protesting against the legislation.
