The Government on Wednesday showed its willingness “to go the extra mile” to accommodate the Opposition’s concerns on the contentious land Acquisition Bill, but at the same time sought to blunt its attack by “exposing the double-faced politics” of anti-Bill proponents, particularly Congress leaders, who had asked for excluding the “consent” provision from the legislation.
This, even as NDA allies lJP and SAD, became the latest to join the anti-land acquisition chorus and the Opposition upped the ante by staging a walkout in the lok Sabha and the Congress hit the streets against the Bill.
The Government asserted that it would not compromise on the compensation and rehabilitation of farmers and asked the political opponents “not to confuse” the stakeholders “if they are failing to convince”.
As the stand-off between the Modi Government and the Opposition continued, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu offered an olive branch to the opponents in lok Sabha saying it was ready to deliberate on its suggestions and “go the extra mile” to prevent any injustice to farmers and to strengthen their hands.
Naidu tried to pacify Opposition parties saying that the Ordinance was brought “in the need of emergency” as it was important to kick-start the economy which was facing a “developmental holiday” for the last ten years.
Not convinced, the Congress, CPI(M), TMC and AAP, staged a noisy walkout when Naidu claimed that the Government does not want to bring Ordinances and accused the Congress of having a bad track record on the issue of
promulgating Ordinances as their Governments had brought as many as 637 Ordinances in 62 years. Targeting the left parties and the Janata Parivar, Naidu said the United Front Government had brought in 77 Ordinances. He was intervening in the discussion
on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address. Taking the Government offensive against the Opposition forward, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari accused Opposition parties of double-standards and said almost every State Government run by them, including the Congress, had written to the Centre against the previous land law brought in by the UPA.
Attacking the Congress for its “double-faced” politics, he quoted former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan’s letter to then UPA Government against the law in which he had argued that it would “adversely” affect public works and make them “unviable”.
“Who wrote thisIJ It was a Congress Chief Minister. This party’s CM in Haryana also offered compensation which was only twice the rate not four times as envisaged by the law. And this party is shouting in Parliament. They put on many masks to suit their interests,” he said.
Insisting that the new law was pro-farmer and pro-poor, Gadkari said two Central Ministries, Highways and Coal, alone have awarded compensation of Rs 2,000 crore to land owners at the higher rate after the Ordinance was promulgated.
According to sources, the Government is continuously engaging with all political parties separately before it summons an all-party meet on the contentious Bill. They, however, also maintained that Congress was not ready to trim down its offensive against the Government on the controversial Bill.
The lJP, in the meantime, raised the red-flag on the Bill, particularly against the exclusion of “consent” provision in it. The party had a meeting that was attended by all six of its MPs, all from Bihar, where these concerns were raised. When asked if his party wanted the Government to reconsider these provisions, lJP MP Chirag Paswan, who is also son of lJP chief RamVilas Paswan, said: “Definitely”.
Three other NDA allies SAD, Shiv Sena and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana have also asked for inclusion of “consent” and Social Impact Assessment aiming at welfare of land holders and their dependents in the Bill.
SAD MP, Prem Singh Chandumajra said changes need to be made in the proposed Bill to secure interests of farmers. He said concerns raised on the issue were legitimate. Chandumajra told The Pioneer that Punjab Chief Minister Badal was arriving in the Capital on Thursday to explain the party’s stand on the Bill.
Shiv Sena is already opposing the controversial Bill, so also another NDA constituent Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana. Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant, who was the first speaker from the Treasury Benches to speak on the Motion, came down heavily on the Union Government asking if the farmers do not have land available for irrigation, then how will they earn their livelihood.