Akali Dal to hold ‘chakka jam’ in Punjab on Sept 25

Chandigarh, Sep 22 (IANS) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), an NDA ally, on Tuesday announced to undertake ‘chakka jam’ for three hours across Punjab on September 25 to protest against the farm bills passed by both the Houses of Parliament.

Senior leaders will lead the protests in their constituencies and district headquarters from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., SAD spokesperson and former minister Daljeet Cheema said.

A delegation of SAD on Monday evening met President Ram Nath Kovind and urged him to withhold assent to the contentious farm bills.

Coming out of the meeting, SAD leader Sukhbir Badal told the media: “We have requested the President against signing the anti-farmer bills passed in Parliament by force. We requested him to send back those bills to Parliament.”

The SAD has been a longstanding ally of the ruling BJP. SAD’s Lok Sabha MP and Sukhbir’s wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal had resigned from the Union Cabinet on September 17, citing her party’s opposition to the three bills.

The two bills that Badal was referring to were The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, which were passed by the Rajya Sabha on Sunday. The Lok Sabha passed these bills last week.

–IANS

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