The core committee of Shiromani Akala Dal met for over three hours on Saturday after which president Sukhbir Singh Badal announced the party’s exit from the National Democratic Alliance.
Citing the rights of Punjab’s farmers and the NDA’s “continued insensitivity to Punjabi and Sikh issues,” Mr Badal said the political alliance which began in 1996 has now been dissolved.
As protests against the passage of three contentious farming bills continued, former federal minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal toured Fazilka for the first time after her resignation and made a fiery address to a large gathering.
Meanwhile the President of India, Ram Nath Kovid has given his assent to these three farming bills, which were published in the national gazette on Sunday, September 27. This means they have now come into effect as the new law.
Whilst the Modi government has called the passage of these bills as "landmark" and a “watershed moment” in the nation’s history, nationwide protests are taking place, with the opposition calling it not just “anti-farmer”, but even “unconstitutional”.
To hear more about this and other news from Punjab, click on the audio player above.
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