Former Punjab Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday returned the Padma Vibhushan award in protest against the betrayal of the farmers by the Government of India, and for the shocking indifference and contempt with which the government is treating the ongoing peaceful and democratic agitation of the farmers.
Badal has written a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind stating that "I am who I am because of the people, especially the common farmer. Today when he has lost more than his honour, I see no point in holding on to the Padma Vibhushan honour,"
He wrote that betrayal of the farmers by the government like "bolts from the blue on the already beleaguered peasantry of the country" added that "farmer finds himself waging bitter struggles in severe cold just to secure his fundamental right to live." In a letter e-mailed to the President today morning, Badal said, "After panthic ideals of peace and communal harmony, farmers have been my second religious passion." Everything I have, everything I take pride in, every moment of glory or every office of public service that has been bestowed on me during my long public career has been pure because of my commitment to these ideals in which farmers have remained at the centre of everything," he stated further.
The former Chief Minister described the period after betrayal as "the most painful and embarrassing moment in my long political career. I just cannot put in words the pain and emotional stress which I have been going through since then. I have truly begun to wonder why has the Government of the country become so heartless, so cynical and so ungrateful towards the farmers." He said.
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