Rajya Sabha member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa on Thursday announced that he would be returning his Padma Bhushan award in solidarity with the farmers who are protesting central farm laws. It is to be noted that Dhindsa was presented the Padma Bhushan by President Ram Nath Kovind in March 2019.

Earlier in the day, SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, former Union Minister and five-time Chief Minister of Punjab, returned the Padma Vibhushan award “in protest” against the “betrayal of the farmers by the Government of India” and for the “shocking indifference and contempt” with which the government is treating the ongoing peaceful and democratic agitation of the farmers.