Jharkhand State Congress Committee has undergone celebration mood throughout the State after the government declared its proposed Chotanagpur Tenancy/Santhal Pargana Tenancy (CNT/SPT) Act Amendment Bill as withdrawn on Thursday.
JPCC president Sukhdeo Bhagat called the move a victory of the party’s protest against proposed Bill which, according to him, was devastating for locals in the State.
At the same time, Bhagat added that the party would continue any other move of the government to get another land act amended, saying “We have come to know from various sources that the government was aiming at getting central land Acquisitions Act-2013 amended in near future and we will protest against that too with equal amount of force which we applied while protesting against CNT/SPT Amendment Bill.’
“After sustained protest from the opposition, the government has been compelled to take its proposed CNT/SPT Act Amendment Bill back. This is clearly a victory of the opposition and the people of State and defeat of the government which has on various occasions appeared adamant of misusing people’s mandate. Finally, the government has been forced to understand that numbers are not as dominant in democracy as people’s will is,” said Bhagat where Party leader of Opposition in Assembly Alamgir Alam and other office bearers were also present.
Alam said on the occasion that CNT/SPT Act remained as heart of the State and any attempt to tease it would be protested whenever required. “The government’s back door move to amend central land Acquisition Act-2013 will also be protested with equal force,” said Alam.
Notably, the government decided to roll back the proposed CNT/SPT Amendment after the Governor returned the proposed Bill with as many as 192 clarifications/suggestions, including the very basic requirement of any such Bill in State.
“It was the Congress which launched protest against amendment bill on November 17 last year by organising a gherao of the Assembly. Notably, most of the clarifications/objections sought from the government by the Governor on amendment bill were similar to the queries raised by the party before the Governor on a number of occasions,” said Bhagat.