Govt could have dealt better: Parkash Singh Badal writes to PM on farmers' protests

New Delhi, Dec 08: Days after returning his Padma Vibhushan award, former Punjab CM and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Parkash Singh Badal expressed his concern for the farmers writing to PM Narendra Modi, saying the government could have dealt better with the situation.

"The government [should have] paid greater attention to...what the selfless 'annadata' really thought of its initiatives," he wrote. "I found it hard to believe that [your] government...would allow a failure of this kind," Badal stated.

Writing a letter to the prime minister, he said: "I am deeply worried about the ongoing farmers' crisis. It seems to me that issue could have been dealt with better had the government paid greater attention to honest feedback on what farmers really thought of the Centre's initiatives."

"Three Acts in the question that have pushed the country into deep turmoil must be withdrawn without making farmers & their families endure any more suffering in this biting cold. The issue doesn't concern farmers alone but affects the entire economic fabric of the country," the letter further states.

The 92-year-old politician had returned his Padma Vibhushan last week in a show of solidarity with the protesting farmers opposing the three new farm laws introduced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre.

Earlier, in September, Shiromani Akali Dal, which is among the oldest allies of the BJP, had pulled out of the National Democratic Alliance over the passage of the agriculture reform bills.