The alliance between SAD and the BJP, formed just after the 1996 parliamentary elections, seemed increasingly untenable as the party faced immense pressure from its main voter base, the farmers, to completely sever ties with the BJP. The party was on the defensive in Punjab, where spontaneous protests against farmer-led agricultural marketing bills caused the party to worry about its future, especially as both the ruling party in Congress and the opposition Aam Aadmi Party they were highlighting the alleged reluctance of the Badal family to renounce the alliance with BJP.
SAD’s decision to withdraw from the National Democratic Alliance was decided unanimously at an emergency meeting of its central committee, the party’s highest decision-making body. After the three-hour meeting, the SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said his party was the BJP’s oldest ally, but that the Modi government did not listen to him by honoring the sentiments of farmers. He described the three agricultural marketing bills as “deadly and disastrous for already beleaguered farmers.” The party said it had resigned from the alliance in protest against the three agro-marketing bills and the Center’s “stubborn” refusal to provide statutory legislative guarantees to protect the assured marketing of farmers’ crops in the MSP and for the continued Center’s “insensitivity” towards the Punjabi Language and Sikh community problems.
The Shiromani Akali Dal central committee unanimously decides to withdraw from the #NDA led by BJP due to the Center’s stub… https://t.co/r92xKtDjQH
– Sukhbir Singh Badal (@officeofssbadal) 1601140927000
Promising to uphold its basic principles of peace, communal harmony and safeguarding the interests of Punjab, Punjabi in general, and Sikhs and farmers in particular, Sukhbir said the decision was made in consultation with the people of Punjab, especially party workers and the farmers. In a direct attack on the BJP government in the Center, Sukhbir said that with successive decisions the central government had shown its “callous insensitivity” to minority sentiments and had been indifferent to communal peace and harmony in the country, especially in Punjab.
Even after resigning from the Modi government, Sukhbir said the SAD hoped the Center would not go ahead with these “murderous attacks” against farmers and other poor sectors that depend on agriculture and commerce. “It seems that BJP is totally out of touch with the realities on the ground,” he said. Akali’s senior leader, Dr. Daljit Cheema, said the decision to sever ties was made after much deliberation, adding that the three controversial bills were passed undemocratic and opposed in Punjab, Haryana. and other states. “We had even asked the President of India Ram Nath Kovind not passing the bills approved by Parliament, ”he said.
Criticizing the BJP for not heeding SAD’s repeated pleas not to force the bills against farmers, SAD Secretary General Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra He said there was no point in continuing in the alliance.
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The existential crisis of SAD
SAD, which was formed in 1920 and will complete a century in December this year, is going through its worst existential crisis after being relegated to third place in the 2017 Punjab assembly elections. The party had won just 18 seats while the rookie AAP secured 20 seats.
Punjab BJP Silent:
Despite repeated attempts, Punjab BJP Chairman Ashwani Sharma was unavailable for comment after SAD withdrew from the alliance with the party. He will address a press conference on Sunday, a party spokesman said.
Desperate Case of Political Compulsion: Amarinder
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh called Akali’s decision to resign from the NDA nothing more than a desperate case of political compulsion for the Badals, who, he said, were effectively left with no other choice after public criticism from BJP to SAD for farm laws. .
‘No major alliance before the beginnings’
In Patiala on Saturday afternoon, Sukhbir Badal had indicated the possible severance of ties with the BJP just hours before the actual announcement when he said that for his party no alliance was more important than principles. Stating that his party was not informed or questioned before approving the bills, he said that the SAD would not allow the end of the MSP regime.
“If Pain & Protests of 3 cr punjabis fails to melt GoI’s rigid stance, it is no longer the #NDA imagined by Vajpayee ji & Badal sahab. An alliance that turns a deaf ear to its oldest ally and turns a blind eye to the pleas of those who feed the nation is no longer in Pb’s interest. (sic) ”, Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s tweet.
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