The lok Sabha on Tuesday adopted a motion to refer the land Bill to a joint committee after a debate which witnessed strong criticism of the Bill by Opposition parties led by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and even from ruling NDA partners Shiv Sena and Akali Dal. Repeating his suit-boot ki sarkar jibe, Rahul said the Modi Government’s land Bill killed farmers’ rights and vowed to block it inside Parliament as well as on the streets.
Rahul’s attacks on the Modi Government led to noisy interruptions in the lok Sabha. The next Speaker, BJP MP Dileep Singh Bhuria delivered a fierce counter-punch saying “suit-boot aap ke jijaji (Robert Vadra) bhi pahnte hain.” This led to chaos with both BJP and Congress trading charges.
Stoutly opposing the Bill, Rahul said its passage “will not happen so easily. If we are not able to stop it here (in Parliament), we will hit the streets against it.” The Congress vice-president drew a parallel between a daylight robbery and the proposed law, saying an economist had told him that thieves wearing suits now strike during the day.
Hitting out at the Bill, he termed it as an attempt by the Government to acquire land, prices of which have been spiraling, for industrialist “friends” and crony capitalists. “This Government wants to give land to crony capitalists and its industrialist friends because it’s a suit-boot ki sarkar”. Rahul’s repeated jibes at the Modi Government invited running protests from the Treasury Benches.
Rahul said it took the UPA Government two years to bring the land Acquisition law “but the NDA Government killed it within days of coming to power. The first blow with an axe was right at its (Bills) throat when the Government decided to remove the consent clause.”
Terming the Government as anti-farmer and anti-poor, Rahul said it did not want to acquire land in Bundelkhand or in the deserts of Rajasthan but near big cities like Noida, Gurgaon and Pune to make money as land prices have been rising there. “Gold lies beneath your feet. These people want to snatch it,” he said amid cheers from Congress benches.
Taking a dig at BJP leaders, Rahul said its top leaders like lK Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh, while sitting in Opposition benches, had “even thumped the desks” when the land Bill was passed in 2013 during the UPA’s tenure. “They had supported the Bill then, but I don’t know why they changed their stance today. It can either be that their mind changed, or they are scared lest they say something wrong,” the Congress leader said.
Countering Gandhi, BJP’s Bhuria accused him of “shedding crocodile tears for the farmers and doing nothing for them”. He said the Congress would be held responsible for their suicides as it has been “misleading” the farming community. He also claimed the new Bill provided for four times more compensation than in the existing law.
Bhuria’s jibes on Vadra wearing suit and boot irked the Congress benches leading to noisy scenes again in the House. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and TMC’s Saugata Roy raised points of order, alleging that Bhuria was not speaking on the Bill but on extraneous issues. To this, Deputy Speaker Thambidurai said he would go through the records and remove anything unparliamentary.
The debate saw Opposition parties like the Congress, AIADMK, TMC, BJD and the left oppose the measure. They were joined by ruling NDA partner Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant and SAD’s RS Brahmpura who asked the Government to send it to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed deliberations on its provisions.
Opposition members, including AIADMK, protested moving of the Bill for consideration, saying it was a futile exercise as a similar Bill was already passed by the House earlier. They sought a division but Speaker Sumitra Mahajan adjourned the House for ten minutes.
When the House re-assembled, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the Government was willing to send the Bill to a parliamentary committee and the Opposition should decide if they want to discuss it or not. Saugata Roy (TMC) said they wanted a division but Mahajan adjourned the House noting that the strength of the Treasury Benches was low that time and sought a ruling from her.
An upset Mahajan said, “Don’t say so. Don’t let incorrect matter go on record”. She said the motion for consideration and passage of the Bill was adopted.