Shiromani Akali Dal chief chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday hit
out at the central government over the ‘anti-national’ and ‘khalistani’ tags
being attached to the protesting farmers in recent days, news agency ANI
tweeted.

“There are elder women is farmer protests. Do they look like
Khalistanis? It is a way of calling farmers of the country as asnti-nationals.
This is an insult to the farmers. How dare they call out farmers
anti-nationals?” Badal was quoted by ANI as saying on Thursday.

Also read: Khalistani elements in farmers’ protest said ‘could do it to Indira, why not Modi’: Haryana CM

The Akali Dal leader further questioned whether BJP or anyone
else had the right to declare anyone an anti-national. Stressing on the fact
that farmers have dedicated their lives to the nation, Badal said that people calling
the farmers are actually the anti-nationals.

Lauding the former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, he pointed out the former’s struggle for farmers and him returning an award to
send a message to the government.