CHANDIGARH: Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday promised government job to the kin of farmers who died during the agitation against the Centre's farm laws if the coalition led by his party comes to power in the state.
The SAD president also assured free education to children and grandchildren of the farmers who lost their lives during the protest. The SAD is contesting the 2022 Assembly polls in the state in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
"Today, I assure Punjabis: Immediately after forming the govt in 2022, SAD-BSP will honour the martyrs of Kisan Andolan with one govt job per family, free education to their children & grandchildren till post-graduation & health insurance cover to the entire family," said Badal in a tweet.
In a video posted on his Twitter handle, Badal said for the past seven months, farmers have been camping at the Delhi borders, demanding repeal of the "black" farm laws brought by the Modi government at the Centre.
He said that more than 550 farmers have "laid down" their lives during this agitation. "If the SAD-BSP alliance comes to power, its first decision will be to provide government jobs to a family member of the each farmer who died during the agitation," Badal said.
He also hoped that farmers would be victorious in their agitation against the three farm legislations.
Farmers mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have been camping at Delhi borders since November last year, demanding that the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 be rolled back and a new law made to guarantee minimum support price for crops.
However, the government has maintained that the laws are pro-farmer. Several rounds of talks between farmers and the government have failed to break the deadlock over the three laws.