Unfazed by strong opposition to the land Acquisition Bill, the Modi-Government is planning to bring it in either of the two Houses of Parliament between May 5 and May 8. The indication came from highly-placed Government sources on Monday soon after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi launched a fierce attack in the lok Sabha on the Government on the land Bill.
The Government on April 3 re-promulgated the land Ordinance which was tabled in the lok Sabha on Monday by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy. [The official title of the land ordinance is Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015.]
Asked about the Bill being placed with the select committee of the Rajya Sabha, a senior Union Minister maintained that a final view was yet to emerge. He, however, confirmed that the Bill would be placed in Parliament any day between May 5 and May 8 before the House concludes its Session on May 13. The lok Sabha Session would terminate on May 8. Parliament would not be in session between May 1 and May 4 on account of holidays.
By pushing the land Bill to the fag end of the Session, the Government will focus on completing demands for grant for railways and some other select ministries and passing of relevant appropriation Bills and finance Bill. The Bills concerning Goods and Services Tax, black money and real estate (development and regulation) would also be brought in next month.
Soon after Rudy placed the land Ordinance in the lok Sabha, Congress leader of the House Mallikarjun Kharge said: “We feel that this Ordinance was not required as the Government has been trying to impose this on the people again and again and specially prorogued the Rajya Sabha as they wanted to re-promulgate it (the ordinance).”
But it was left for Rahul Gandhi to step up attack on the Government. Rahul accused the “suit-boot government” for being “pro-industrialists and anti-farmers”. In his 25-minute speech in the lok Sabha, Rahul made a scathing attack on the Modi Government, inviting frequent interruptions from Treasury benches.
“The achchhe din Government has failed the country on the issue of farmers,” said Rahul accusing the NDA Government of “ignoring” the farming community and favouring industrialists and the rich. From the beginning of his speech, the Congress leader was in an aggressive mood, supported by Congress MPs and other Opposition party MPs, leading to frequent interruptions and Ministers like Radha Mohan Singh and Venkaiah Naidu questioning his allegations.
“The basic point is that the Government doesn’t understand the pain of farmers and labourers. Yeh to suit boot ki sarkar hai (This is a suit-boot Government),” Rahul said.
Taking a dig at the Prime Minister, Rahul said Modi “should switch over to the side of farmers and labourers from that of high and mighty and industrialists” as it will benefit the BJP politically and harm the Congress.
“I will offer an advice to the Prime Minister. He will gain politically if he changes sides as farmers are over 67 per cent of population. You are making a blunder by harming farmers and labourers and they will harm you in future. If you switch over to their side it will help you and may harm us,” he said.
Rahul said he has been wondering over the Prime Minister’s policies, which were “affecting” farmers, since Modi knows the “political calculations” and has just won the elections. “Then it occurred to me that the price of farmers’ land has been rising and your corporate friends covet these lands. You are weakening farmers now and then use this axe of land ordinance to hit them,” he said, accusing the Government of wanting to acquire land to help industrialists.
Though Rahul participated in the debate on agrarian crisis, the main crux of his speech was on attacking the Government on the land Bill. Amid continuous uproar and clashes between the treasury and Opposition benches, Rahul cited figures to underline that farmers and agriculture are being neglected under the NDA.
He said the agriculture sector grew by only one per cent during the 10-month-old Modi Government and had grown by 2.6 per cent during the previous NDA Government. He accused the Government of giving out contradictory figures about the damage suffered by farmers during the recent unseasonal rain and said the BJP would function like this as it was used to speaking different voices.
Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh rebutted the statistic on agrarian scenario presented by Rahul. “We welcome you... You have returned from a long foreign trip. You cannot make false statements. Your statistics is totally wrong on Minimum Support Price given to farmers,” said Singh, inviting protests from the Opposition MPs.
The speech was repeatedly interrupted by BJP members, who clashed with Congress members who got up to defend their leader. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Naidu had to intervene to calm down the treasury benches, telling them let the debate continue without interruption.
Intervening in the debate on the agrarian situation in the Naidu also hit out at the previous UPA dispensation for issuing over 460 Ordinances during its tenure compared to about 10 by it. The land Ordinance was re-issued after much deliberations, he said, adding that the previous UPA dispensation “had issued 462 ordinances, while this government has come out with hardly 10”.
Attacking the Congress, Naidu said the party was trying to bat for the farmers’ interests after “looting” them for 10 years and insisted that Government was committed to providing relief those in distress.
At one point, Rahul addressed the BJP benches saying “your Prime Minister”, which riled them. “He is nation’s Prime Minister”, they hit back. “Yes, he is the country’s Prime Minister. Is he not your Prime Minister”, he retorted as the Congress benches thumped the desks to cheer their leader.
As many as 16 Congress MPs were not present during the much hyped Rahul’s maiden speech. Congress president Sonia Gandhi too was absent. later, Rahul told reporters outside the House that the Government had no answers to the questions he had raised in the House. Talking to the media, Sonia Gandhi said Rahul made a good speech. “I did not hear the full speech of Rahul. But I was told it was good,” she said.