The contentious land acquisition Bill is set to generate heat in the Winter Session of Parliament as the Congress-led Opposition has demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi make a statement in the first week itself on Government’s plans on the issue.
Congress and TMC members of the joint committee of Parliament examining the contentious Bill on Monday wanted that the Prime Minister may be called as a witness to explain about the Bill. But the idea was opposed by the ruling BJP and its ally Shiv Sena. The chairman of the panel is senior Parliamentarian SS Ahluwalia.
Asking the PM to speak on this issue in Parliament, former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said that it would be better if the Prime Minister told Parliament that the Government stand was different from the one he conveyed in his ‘Mann ki Baat’. TMC members too raised the radio talk of the PM on the land Bill issue.
“Such a statement would mean that his ‘Mann ki Baat’ remarks that the Government would not repromulgate the Ordinance was made in view of Bihar polls,” Ramesh said while talking to the media. Ramesh is a member of the committee.
Ramesh said that either the Prime Minister or any senior Minister should make a statement on the land acquisition Bill soon after Parliament meets on November 26. He said that the Congress felt that the committee had become “irrelevant” in view of Modi’s statement. In the meeting of the committee on Monday, Congress member Rajeev Satav gave a copy of Modi’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ statement to the panel’s Chairman.
The BJP also made light of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s pro-farmers ‘padyatra’ saying the Congress leader had no right to talk about their interest as they had suffered the most during the 10-year UPA rule that saw a large number of suicides by farmers.
“When Congress was in power, it did little to help farmers. They were always under stress due to a host of issues, including shortage of urea. So many farmers
committed suicide and now he is talking their welfare. He has no moral right to do so,” said BJP spokesman Srikant Sharma said.