Updated: September 17, 2020 10:10:54 pm
Former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal at a rally in Bathinda. The Akali Dal is a key ally of the NDA. (File / PTI)
With Minister of the Union Harsimrat Badal resigns The cabin, Shiromani Akali Dal, a long-term alliance partner of the BJP, has taken an unusually strong position against agricultural ordinances: the Agricultural Products Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020; The Farmers Agreement (Empowerment and Protection); and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, enacted by the NDA government, which has now introduced bills in Lok Sabha to replace the ordinances.
Akali Dal President Sukhbir Badal has said the party was never consulted on the ordinances and that Harsimrat, his wife, had told the government about the farmers’ reserves. Farmers in Haryana and Punjab, where SAD is based, have been waving against ordinances. The party has decided to vote against the Bills.
Less than a month ago, the Akalis had been staunchly upholding the ordinances. Just before a one-day session of the Punjab Assembly on August 28, Sukhbir Badal had published a letter from the Union Minister of Agriculture, Narender Singh Tomar, saying that the practice of acquiring grain through price minimum support (MSP) would remain unchanged. He had even accused Chief Minister Amarinder Singh of deceiving the farmers. Now the two are speaking in unison against the ordinances.
What explains the opposition of the Akalis?
The peasantry forms the backbone of the Akali Dal vote bank in Punjab. Earlier this week Sukhbir Badal summed it up when he said, “Every Akali is a farmer and every farmer is an Akali.”
The farmers are fuming. Farmers unions across the state have also sunk their political differences to unite against the ordinances. The inhabitants of the Malwa belt have warned that they will not allow any leader who supports the ordinances to enter their villages.
Farmers unions across the state have also sunk their political differences to unite against the ordinances. In photo: Protests from Amritsar (PTI)
The 100-year-old party, which fared its worst in the 2017 Assembly elections with just 15 seats out of 117, cannot risk alienating its main electorate. Political analysts say it is a question of survival for the party that enjoyed two successive terms from 2007 before being defeated in 2017.
The SAD-BJP alliance was only able to secure 15% of the seats, while Congress recorded its most emphatic victory since 1957.
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Dr Parmod Kumar of the Institute for Development Communication, a think tank, said the agitation of the farmers has been a boon to the Akali. “They were in the desert and no one thought they would ever oppose the BJP. This turmoil has given them new life. Their full support for farmers could also help them defuse anger against incidents of sacrilege during Akali’s rule in 2015. “
What are the risks involved?
Farmers fear that they will no longer be paid at MSP for their food grains, while commission agents fear losing their commission. According to a study by Punjab Agricultural University, there are more than 12 lakh of farming families in Punjab and around 28,000 registered commission agents.
The Punjab and Haryana farmer groups had taken to the streets opposing a series of agricultural ordinances.
A large part of the agrarian state economy is based on funds contributed by central purchasing agencies such as the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The FCI purchases most of the wheat and rice grown in Punjab. In the 2019-2020 rabi marketing season, Punjab supplied 129.1 lakh metric tons (LMT) of the 341.3 LMT wheat purchased for the core group. In 2018-19, it contributed 13.3 LMT of rice to the total of 443.3 LMT in the central reserve.
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But after these ordinances, protesters fear that the FCI will no longer be able to obtain mandis from the state, which will rob the middleman / commission agent / arhatiya of its 2.5% commission. The state itself will lose the 6% commission it used to charge the procurement agency.
“The ordinances that allow farmers to sell their produce on the open market are a blow to farmers, mainly Jats, the commission agents, who are mostly urban Hindus and landless laborers,” said Parmod Kumar.
How does it impact the BJP and its ties to Akali Dal?
Traditionally, the BJP’s voter base is urban and commission agents are an influential section of this base. Any erosion in your earnings can potentially affect the match.
Read also | Harsimrat’s decision to resign from the Union Cabinet is a ‘trick to fool farmers’, says Amarinder Singh
On the other hand, Akali Dal’s whip against his own alliance government has created a rift with the BJP in the Center. Ashutosh Kumar, a political scientist at the University of Panjab, said: “Once the whip was issued, Harsimrat’s resignation was inevitable … All cabinet members are bound by the cabinet decision; you can pose questions to him, but you cannot challenge him. A vote against the bills would have violated Article 75 ”.
Is this the first time that Akali Dal has distanced herself from a government movement of the NDA?
In January of this year, Akali Dal had embarrassed the BJP when supported a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in the Punjab Assembly, although he had voted for it in Parliament. At a meeting of the party’s central committee, he said that while he supports CAA insofar as it provides protection to Sikhs and various other communities, the Law does not become inclusive as it discriminates against Muslims. Later, the party decided not to fight in the Delhi elections because of its differences with the BJP on this issue.
Earlier this week in Parliament, Sukhbir Badal opposed the non-inclusion of Punjabi in the new language bill for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, saying it was a language spoken by locals since the Khalsa. Raj. He gave the example of the leader of the National Conference, Farooq Abdullah, who is fluent in Punjabi, and Abdullah agreed.
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