CHANDIGARH: Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal today appealed to the union government to accept the demands of the farmers, including making MSP a legal guarantee, to save the life of Kisan leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal whose fast unto death has entered the 21st day.
While raising the issue of the precarious health of the senior Kisan leader in parliament today, Mrs Harsimrat Badal said Prime minister Narendra Modi had agreed to accept all the demands of the farmers while repealing the three agriculture laws four years back. “A promise was made to constitute a committee which would consider all the demands of the farmers but despite the martyrdom of 700 farmers during the Kisan Andolan these demands have still not been accepted”.
Mrs Harsimrat Badal said it was unfortunate that despite directions by the Supreme Court to both the State and Centre to persuade Mr Dallewal to end his fast, the centre had deputed a low level official who had nothing to offer and simply asserted he had come to hear the views of the farmers. She said urgent action was needed to save Mr Dallewal’s life and to do so the centre should accept his demands including those on MSP, debt waiver and pension for farmers and agricultural workers, an assurance that electricity tariff for the farm sector would not be increased, withdrawal of police cases and justice for those affected by the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
Mrs Badal also castigated the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for failing to impress the sensitivity of the issue to the union government with the Kisan leader’s fast unto death entering the 21st day. “The AAP government has completely failed to present the enormity of the situation to the union government”, she added.