Don't sign farm bills: Sukhhbir urges President Ram Nath Kovind

New Delhi: Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Sunday urged the President not to give his assent to the farm bills passed by Rajya Sabha, asking him to return them to Parliament for reconsideration.

Badal said the passage of the bills marked a 'sad day' for democracy and millions in the country. "Democracy means consensus, not majority oppression," the SAD leader said in a statement shortly after Rajya Sabha passed two of the three bills.

In a rarely exercised provision, the Constitution gives the President the power to withhold assent to certain categories of bills passed by Parliament. "Please stand by the farmers, 'kisan mazdoors', 'arhtiyas', mandi labour and Dalits," Badal urged President Ram Nath Kovind.

"Please intervene on their behalf with the government. Otherwise they will never forgive us," he said in the statement.

"Don't let the 'annadata' (farmers) starve or sleep on the roads," he added.