In yet another instance of disagreement with its saffron alliance partner BJP, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday expressed its serious reservations about certain provisions in the Bill introduced by the NDA Government in lok Sabha, seeking to replace the land acquisition Ordinance, and said it would seek necessary amendments in the legislation so as to protect the interests of the farmers.
On a day when the NDA Government introduced the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill 2015 to replace Ordinance promulgated by it on December 30 last year, amidst uproar by the Congress-led Opposition, the Sena voiced tactical Opposition to the contentious Bill saying that the Bill had some provisions which were not in the farmers’ interests.
Though his party MPs attended an NDA meeting called by the ruling BJP in New Delhi to discuss the contentious issues in the land acquisition Bill, Sena’s MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut spoke against the Bill and said that the principal ruling party had promulgated the Ordinance without taking its allies into confidence.
“There are provisions in the Bill which are detrimental to the interests of the farmers.... We are with the Government as long as it takes decisions that are in the interests of farmers. We would like the Government to come out with certain amendments in the Bill to protect the interests of the farmers,” Raut told The Pioneer.
Advising the Government that it could ill-afford ignore the protests by the farmers’ protests being staged under the leadership of social activist Anna Hazare, Raut said: “The Prime Minister and Finance Minister should listen patiently to the grievances of the agitating farmers ( at Jantar Mantar) and take necessary steps that are in their interests. After all, the farmers have voted supported the BJP overwhelmingly in the last year’s lok Sabha polls. Therefore, the Government can ill-afford to do something that will go against their interests”.
Asked if the Sena was supporting the farmers’ agitation being led by Hazare, Raut said: “The Sena supports all kinds of agitations by farmers irrespective of the fact as to who leads them”.
Taking a strong exception to the removal of clause that existed in the earlier legislation which had made it mandatory on the Government to seek 80 per cent for land acquisition and that the farmers could no longer be in a position to knock the doors of the courts, Raut said: “The restriction imposed on farmers from moving the court against the land acquisition is very cruel”.
“We are a country where even a Kasab or an Afzal Guru could move the courts, how can we disallow the farmers from knocking the doors of courtsIJ. This is definitely one of the contentious issues,” Raut said.