Parkash Singh Badal, former Union Minister and five-time Chief Minister of Punjab ,Returns Padma Vibhushan Award (second-highest civilian award of India ) in Protest Against three contentious farm laws promulgated by BJP-led Union government, terming the laws as “the betrayal of the farmers by the Government of India”.
He said his protest is also against the “shocking indifference and contempt with which the government is treating the ongoing peaceful and democratic agitation of the farmers against the three farm Acts”.
“Who am I is
because of the people, especially the common farmer. Today, when I have lost
more than my honour, I see no reason behind holding on to the award”, said the
Akali stalwart in his letter to the president Ram Nath Kovind.
Badal described
the betrayal of the farmers by the government as “bolts from the blue on the
already beleaguered peasantry of the country” adding that “farmer finds himself
waging bitter struggles in severe cold just to secure his
fundamental right to live”.
In a letter
written in a deeply emotional and painful strain and e-mailed to the President
this morning, Badal said, “After Panthik ideals of peace and communal harmony,
farmers have been my second religious passion. Everything I have,
everything I take pride in, every moment of glory or every office of
public service that has been bestowed on me during my long public career has
been purely because of my commitment to these ideals in which farmers have remained
at the center of everything”.
“When the
country honoured me with Padma Vibhushan, I knew that it was only in
acknowledgement of my commitment to the people in which the farmers featured
most prominently. I owe it to them,” he said.
In his letter to
the President, Badal listed his reasons for feeling “hurt and betrayed” by the
government’s attitude and actions against the farmers. “When the
Government of India had brought the Ordinances, assurances were given that
the farmers’ apprehensions on these Ordinances would be addressed to their
satisfaction while bringing the relevant Bills and subsequently the
Acts. Trusting these assurances, I even appealed to the farmers to
believe the Government’s word. But I was shocked when the Government simply went
back on its word.”
https://www.sikh24.com/2020/12/03/breaking-parkash-badal-returns-padma-vibhushan-award-in-protest-against-farm-laws/#
