Anna Hazare ups the ante

Mr Hazare was addressing around 5,000 farmers who reached Jantar Mantar after protest on Tuesday ended. Wednesday witnessed one of biggest protests in term of participants in last three days against the land Bill.

Ekta Parishad along with Mr Hazare will launch padayatra in all the districts to make the farmers aware about the new bill. They threatened to launch a nation wide ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’ if the government does not pay attention to their demand.

President of Ekta Parishad, Rajagopal P. V. said, “Once the farmers and tribals across the country will be aware about the land acquisition law, the protest will gather steam and it will create greater pressure on the law-makers.”

“Farmers from across the country will launch a nation-wide jail bharo andolan as long as the Centre does not pay heed to our demands, Mr Rajagopal added.

The chorus against the land acquisition law within the NDA grew louder Wednesday with Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP voicing concern over some provisions and seeking more clarity from the government. LJP MP Chirag Paswan said his party was worried over provisions like doing away with consent of farmers for acquiring their land in the amended law.

“There are questions about the need of doing away with farmers’ consent.” said Mr Paswan. Union minister Nitin Gadkari accused the Opposition parties of “double standards” and said almost every state government that was run by them, including the Congress, had written to the Centre against the previous land law brought in by the UPA.

“We are open to accept good suggestions offered by other parties. If people have some opinion on the social impact assessment or consent clauses, we are willing to hear them,” he said.

Asked about opposition by even the BJP’s allies, Mr Gadkari said it was a battle between ground realities and perceptions, adding that a perception against the government had been created even though the facts supported them