Former Punjab CM and Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal has returned his Padma Vibhushan to protest "the betrayal of the farmers by the Government of India," reported ANI on Thursday, 3 December.
The 92-year-old returned the award -- the second highest civilian honour India offers -- that had been bestowed upon him in 2015.
The decision comes months after the Shiromani Akali Dal quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the then farm bills.
“I hardly need repeat that the country owes a huge and almost irrepayable debt to its farmers,” the SAD founder said in a letter, adding that the government had been treating the agitation by the farmers with “shocking indifference and contempt”.
“I have truly begun to wonder why has the Government become so heartless, so cynical and so ungrateful towards the farmers,” Badal further wrote.
He added that he saw no point in holding on to the Vibhushan any longer and had decided to return the honour in protest “against the government’s betrayal of the farmers on the three Acts against which the farmers of my state and country are agitating on the street in this cold winter.”
“Today I feel so poor that at this stage of my life, I do not have much else to sacrifice to express solidarity with the farmers’ cause,” Badal wrote.
Meanwhile, Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday, saying that he had reiterated his opposition to the laws and asked him to resolve the issue.
The third round of talks between the Centre and the farmers’ leaders over the controversial farm laws is underway at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan, with 40 leaders reportedly representing the farmers. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Union Minister Piyush Goyal are present at the meeting on behalf of the Centre.
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