A united Opposition on Tuesday sounded its battle cry over the land Acquisition Bill as leaders of 14 political parties, led by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, marched to Rashtrapati Bhavan to urge President Pranab Mukherjee not to let the Government go ahead with the “anti-farmer Bill”.
“Yeh aar paar ki ladai hai (this is a fight to the finish),” declared JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav at Rashtrapati Bhavan where the MPs assembled. The march saw an energised Congress take on the Narendra Modi Government over the Bill, which they allege would allow corporates to cobble up agricultural land.
Sonia Gandhi, with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh standing next to her, declared that the Opposition was determined to defeat the land Acquisition Bill. Sonia said “democratic, secular and forward-looking forces are determined to defeat the Modi Government’s designs” to promote corporate interests at the cost of farmers by taking away their land.
Shouting slogans like Narendra Modi hosh me aao (come to your senses), around 100 MPs, led by Sonia, and Congress’ Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ambika Soni, with Sharad Yadav and leaders of other parties, marched from Parliament House to Rashtrapati Bhavan. Around 20 of them went in to submit the memorandum — signed by 28 leaders — to the President.
The two-page memo said, “all the progressive, secular, democratic forward-looking forces are determined to defeat the Modi sarkar’s design to promote division and social disharmony. We request Rashtrapati to intervene to protect the interests of the kisans and impress upon the Modi sarkar, not to go ahead with the amendment in the Rajya Sabha.”
According to the Opposition memorandum, the Bill does away with the crucial Social Impact Assessment (SIA) clause, which is essential to safeguard the interests of farmers and landowners and to ensure that multi-cropped land would be only acquired as a last resort.
The march saw sworn enemies, the TMC and the left, come together to be part of the 14-party combine. Besides the Congress, the 14 political parties included the Samajwadi Party, JD(U), Janata Dal-Secular, the DMK, the Communists, TMC and the Nationalist Congress Party, among others. Delhi Police had promulgated Section 144 of CrPC in and around Rajpath and President House but later granted permission.