Headlines
Won't allow anti-farmer land ordinance to become law: Congress
New Delhi, Feb 25
Taking the fight against the
NDA government's land acquisition ordinance to the street, the Congress
Wednesday said it would not allow the "anti-farmer" ordinance to become
a law.
Participating in a well-attended protest programme at
Jantar Mantar here, various Congress leaders said the land acquisition
ordinance was "anti-farmer and anti-people".
Senior Congress
leader and former minister Jairam Ramesh said it was a 'Zamin Waapsi
Aandolan' (taking land back movement) against the 'Ghar Waapsi' (coming
back to one's old religious faith) government.
"It took our
government to prepare the Land Acquisition Act 2013 two years but the
present government did not even take full two hours to change it,"
Ramesh said, who as minister was instrumental in bringing in the act
after reviewing the 125-year British time law on the subject.
The
Modi government promulgated an ordinance in December 2014, bringing in
changes to the 2013 Act. The opposition has accused the government of
bringing in the ordinance to favour corporates in acquiring land.
Accusing
the Narendra Modi government of not caring for democratic norms on such
an important matter, the Congress leader said the National Democratic
Alliance government did not consult anybody before bringing in the
ordinance.
"Why did they have to do so? When they had already
given their consent on the issue (the 2013 land act), why had they to
bring in a new one which was not in the interest of the people," he
said, addressing hundreds of farmers from areas adjoining the national
capital and Congress party workers.
Ramesh said the government
had changed all the important points of the 2013 act, including that
land could not be taken without the consent of the land owner, which he
said "could not be acceptable in a democratic setup like ours".
"How
can a government do so? It's not your land it belongs to the people.
It's they who will have to be consulted before any such move," he said.
The
former minister said that clauses like if the acquired land has not
been used for the purpose it was taken for five years, it would be
returned to the farmer, too has been removed. Also the social impact of
land acquisition on landless people, who used to survive on that very
land, and how they could be re-settled well, was missing in the
ordinance.
Another senior Congress leader, Ahmed Patel, speaking
on the occasion said the BJP wanted a 'Congress Mukt' (Congress free)
India, "now it seems, by bringing in this land acquisition ordinance
they want a 'Farmer Mukt' (farmer free) country.
"It's totally anti-farmer, anti-people and the government has just one aim and that is to please the big corporates," he said.
Similarly,
Congress leaders Digvijay Singh, Ajay Maken, Raj Babbar, Deepender
Hooda and Jyotiraditya Scindia also accused the central government of
indulging in anti-people activities.
Babbar wondered why the BJP
gave its consent when the then Congress government was preparing the
land bill, which was passed as the 2013 land act.