The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday urged the Centre to immediately and unconditionally withdraw the three controversial farm acts and accept all the other demands made by agitating farmers.
Senior Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia said that the SAD fully backed the farmers’ rejection of the proposals sent by the Government of India, adding that these proposals were nothing but “delaying and diversionary tactics and tricks which have rightly been rejected by the farmers”.
Asking the Centre government to “abandon its stubborn refusal to listen to the farmers and announce unqualified and unconditional acceptance of their demands”, Mr. Majithia said, “If the farmers don’t want these [farm laws], it is absolutely unreasonable, wrong and undemocratic to thrust these upon them.”
Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Ashwani Sharma said it was unfortunate that farmer leaders had rejected the proposed amendments that the Centre had offered in the three agriculture Bills.
“The Centre has addressed all the major concerns about the Minimum Support Price and the mandis in the proposed amendments, which farmers should accept with grace. It’s a feeling of big respect for farmers that prompted the Centre to address the issues that agitated them, and in all fairness the protesters should have accepted the offer,” said Mr. Sharma.
He suggested that farmers should review their decision and withdraw their agitation in view of the offer made by the Centre.
Haryana Congress chief and former Rajya Sabha MP Kumari Selja demanded the Centre immediately repeal the farm laws. “In its six years tenure, the BJP government at the Centre has only made plans to ruin the farmers. Currently, a conspiracy has been hatched by the government to completely ruin the farmers. After suffering for six years, the farmers have now stood up, but this is not at all acceptable to this arrogant government,” Ms. Selja said at Tikri, where she had gone to express solidarity with agitating farmers.
