Former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal became the first to return his Padma Vibhushan award in protest against the treatment of the protesting farmers by the Central government. The 92-year-old returned his Padma Vibhushan award — the second highest civilian honour of the country — that he received from the government in 2015.
Incidentally, SAD (Democratic) chief and rebel Rajya Sabha member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa has also announced that he would be returning his Padma Bhushan award.
A group of top sportspersons and coaches from Punjab have said they will return their awards and march to Delhi on December 5 in solidarity with the farmers.
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Read text of Parkash Singh Badal’s letter:
Honourable Rashtarpati ji,
I write this letter to return the Padma Vibhushan award in protest against the betrayal of the farmers by the Government of India and against the shocking indifference and contempt with which the Govt is treating the ongoing peaceful and democratic agitation of the farmers against the Farm Acts.
When the Government of India had brought the Ordnances, assurances were given that the farmers’ apprehensions on these Ordinances would be addressed to their satisfaction while bringing the relevant Bills and subsequently the Acts. Trusting these assurances, I even appealed to the farmers to believe the Government’s word. But I was shocked when the Government simply went back on its word.
That was the most painful and embarrassing moment in my long political career. I just cannot put in words the 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.
While writing this letter to you, I am conscious that I address myself to a President who presides over the destiny of a population 70% of whom are farmers. For over 70 years, these farmers have been serving the country as its “Annadata” with the most selfless and self effacing humility.
Today however, the same farmer finds himself forced to wage bitter struggles just to secure his fundamental right to live. The three Acts fell as bolts from the blue on the already beleaguered peasantry of the country.
Even before these Acts were passed, the poor farmers had already been in the grip of sever crisis throughout the country. Agriculture was never a lucrative profession in our country as the costs of agricultural inputs had been rising steeply with while there has been just meagre hike or no hike on the prices of agricultural produce. But in recent years, the crisis deepened with farmers unable to meet the rising costs of inputs and were driven to draw unbearable loans just to be able to keep feeding their families.
Against this background, the Black Laws now implemented by the Govt have come as the proverbial last nail in the coffin of the country’s annadata. The farmers are out on the streets battling police batons, tear gas shells and water cannons even as their sources of livelihood dry up.
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 life has been purely because of my commitment to these ideals in which farmers have remained at the centre of everything.
Thus, when the country honoured me with the enviable honour of Padma Vibhushan, I knew that it was only in acknowledgement of my commitment to the people of Punjab in which the farmers featured most prominently. I owe it to them.
But today, when even the survival of the farmers – because of whom I am who I am – has lost more than his honour, I see no point in holding on to the Padma Vibhushan honour.
Accordingly, I have decided to return this Padma Vibhushan honour in protest against the government’s betrayal of the farmers on the three Acts in question. The farmers of my state and country are out on the streets agitating against these Acts in this cold winter far away from their homes.
This is perhaps the hour for the country to repay the debt it owes to its farmers. As an optimist, I like to hope that you will win the confidence of these farmers as well as strengthen the secular democratic fabric of our great country.
Thanks and high regards
Yours sincerely,
(PARKASH SINGH BADAL)
