CHANDIGARH: Aam Aadmi Party Punjab (AAP) senior leader and Leader of Opposition Harpal Singh Cheema, while reacting to the returning of the Padma Vibhushan award by former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in protest against the contentious farm laws, said on Thursady that had he (Parkash Singh Badal), being an alliance partner of NDA government at the centre, done a precious little to exert pressure on the Centre to repeal black laws, he would not have to enact the drama today.
Bhagwant Mann said that when the Badals were in power and an alliance partners of the NDA government, he should have put pressure on the Modi government against enacting the deadly Agriculture Acts, saying the Badal family had mortgaged the interests of Punjab and Punjab farmers, merely to safeguard the ministerial berth of Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
Harpal Cheema was on Thursday answering to reporter's queries at the party headquarters. While welcoming the campaign by sportspersons, writers and other celebrities to return their national awards in protest against the black farm laws, termed the returning of the award by Parkash Singh Badal as a mere drama.
Cheema said that, being a part of the Modi government at the Centre, the entire Badal family, including paterfamilias Parkash Singh Badal, had mislead the farmers of Punjab and across the country by misrepresenting facts about the deadly agriculture laws, saying that the Badal family was now trying to become a 'martyrs'. Cheema said that the Badal's decision to withdraw the award in protest against the black laws sounded more like a political gimmick was they had always betrayed the farmers of Punjab.