Two important developments on Friday indicated that the Government may not bring the controversial land Acquisition Bill in the Rajya Sabha anytime soon. First, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu asked NDA Ministers to convince the people about the virtues of the new Bill during the month-long Parliament recess. Second, was the unambiguous stance by the Congress that it will not come to the rescue of the Government, as it did on the Insurance sector Bill.
Naidu’s missive to the Ministers showed that the Government was in no hurry to have the Bill passed in the Joint Session. Instead, it wanted to reach out to different stakeholders and general people and convince them about the “utility” of the Bill before forcing the issue. The Ministers were told to communicate to the people about the objectives of the Bill and the changes proposed by the Government in the larger interests of farmers, rural people, and overall economic development of the country.
According to sources, the leaders will attempt to convince people that the amendments effected during passage of the Bill in the lok Sabha have already taken care of the concerns of farmers. Meanwhile, the Opposition also hardened its position further with eight parties, including Congress, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, DMK, JD(U), CPI(M), CPI and Kerala Congress (M), calling for a protest march from Parliament to Rashtrapati Bhawan on March 17.
Efforts are being made, reportedly, to rope in some other parties as well and JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav is coordinating in this endeavour. Congress president Sonia Gandhi may also join the march, sources said. “It is a march of non-NDA MPs to the Rashtrapati Bhawan... Sharad Yadav is coordinating,” a source said. Though it is supposed to be a march of MPs only, there is a likelihood of West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee also joining in as her party is playing a key role in scuttling efforts to amend the land Acquisition Act of 2013.
Congress, Trinamool Congress, SP, RJD and BJD had walked out of the lok Sabha while NDA ally Shiv Sena abstained as the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill 2015 was passed by voice vote early this week. The Bill is now up for consideration in Rajya Sabha where the numbers, in favour of the Opposition benches, are calling the present Bill “anti-farmer” and “pro-corporate”.
The Congress has also declared that it opposes the Bill “tooth and nail”, inside Parliament and out. Deputy leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma said that it would be difficult for the government to bring the Bill in hurry as all the political parties need to consult on the subject. “This is a issue concerning directly to the farmers. This is anti-farmer Bill and we have no option but to oppose,” Sharma said outside the Parliament.
While Congress began a protest march from Bhatta Parsaul against the new land Acquisition Bill, they will hold a rally at Jantar Mantar and plan to gherao the Government on Monday. Party workers raised slogans of “Zameen Vapsi, Kanoon Vapsi (return land, bring back 2013 land Acquisition law)” and began a march which would end at Rajghat on March 15.
Addressing a rally of around 200 people on Friday, Jiaram Ramesh said most of the parties are against the bill. The protest started from the same place from where party vice president Rahul Gandhi had launched an agitation against forcible land acquisition in 2011. Rubbishing the Prime Minister’s claims that the bill is pro-farmer in nature, Ramesh said the Narendra Modi government is nothing but a “company sarkar”. “let the Prime Minister say anything, but what has been written (in the bill), (which was) cleared in the lok Sabha, (and) will be put in the Rajya Sabha, is in favour of corporate houses and industrialists. This is an anti-farmer government,” he said.