New Delhi: Faced with stiff resistance from opposition and allies, government was forced on Tuesday to refer the controversial Land Acquisition Bill to a Joint Committee of Parliament after Rahul Gandhi led the attack on it.
The government, which had promulgated ordinance twice on the bill since December last after it faced similar resistance earlier, agreed to refer it to the 30-member committee after allies Shiv Sena and Akali Dal joined opposition in Lok Sabha in opposing it. The Joint Committee of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will have to submit its report on the first day of Monsoon session on the bill which has already been passed by the Lower House.
The House saw acrimonious scenes and clashes during a short debate on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (second) Amendment Bill, which is aimed at altering the Act brought by UPA in 2013. Replying to the debate, Rural Development Minister Birender Singh rejected the opposition charge that the bill is against the interests of farmers but maintained that development has to be undertaken as well.
"The bill is in favour of farmers...We have to strengthen both the wheels -- farmers and industry -- to develop the country," he said. Earlier, a combative Rahul Gandhi led the opposition attack on the government and vowed to oppose it inside and outside Parliament. Shiv Sena and Akali Dal demanded that the bill be sent to a joint parliamentary committee. Asserting that Congress will fiercely resist within and outside Parliament the attempt of "suit-boot ki sarkar" to "grab" farmers' land, Rahul accused the government of being "in a hurry to pass this bill" as it wanted to acquire land for industrialist "friends" and crony capitalists.
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 R S Brahmpura who asked the government to send it to a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) for detailed deliberations on its provisions. The debate on the measure came only after acrimonious exchanges over procedures for the consideration and passage of the bill as it has already been passed by the House before it got stuck in Rajya Sabha during the first part of Budget session.
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 outside." He drew a parallel between a daylight robbery and the proposed law, saying an economist had told him that thieves wearing suits now strike during daylight. Hitting out at the bill, he termed it as an attempt by the government to acquire land, whose price has been rising, 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.
The House also witnessed commotion when the Minister inadvertently mentioned the name of late Madhav Rao Scindia while hitting back at opposition for taking jibes at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for wearing expensive suits. Replying to remarks by Congress leaders that Modi wore suit worth Rs 10 lakh, Birender Singh said, "what was wrong in wearing an expensive suit by the son of a farmer or a poor person?...You can ask Madhav Rao Scindia." Although he apologised repeatedly for inadvertently mentioning the name of Madhav Rao, Jyotiraditya Scindia, son of the late Congress leader, and other party members trooped into the Well of the House, leading to adjournment of the Lok Sabha for a short while.
Senior BJP leaders including Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and S S Ahluwalia were seen pacifying the Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The members of the Lok Sabha who will be on the Joint Committee include K V Thomas, Rajiv Satav (both Congress), Anand Rao Adsul (Shiv Sena), Kaltan Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), B Mahtab (BJD), Mohammad Salim (CPI-M), Chirag Paswan (LJP) and S S Ahluwalia, Udit Raj, Anurag Thakur, Ganesh Singh (all BJP). The names of the 10 Rajya Sabha members will be announced later.
Justifying the need for amending the Act of 2013, the Rural Development Minister claimed that hardly any land was acquired by any state government under that law. "It is not possible that states do not need land," he said.
SP's Dharmendra Yadav objected to the remarks of Singh shouting that in Uttar Pradesh large amount of land was acquired under the 2013 law.
Birender Singh claimed that the previous Congress-ruled Haryana government had acquired 20,000 acres of land at a time when party chief Sonia Gandhi had opposed the idea of acquiring multi-crop land at party conclave at Nanital. His remarks that the land was purchased from farmers by builders under threat that it was going to be acquired by the state government, created commotion with members from Congress and BJP trading barbs.
Replying to the contention of Rahul Gandhi that 40 per cent of the land acquired for SEZs was lying unused, Singh said the Congress vice president was correct because many business houses had acquired land around Delhi in the hope that they would use it for commercial and residential purposes some day. The minister also questioned Rahul's knowledge on the use of axe. He said axe is used to hit at head while sickle (gandasa) is used to chop off throat.
Referring to the 2013 Act, he said the provision of returning the land after five years for non-completion of project was not practical as it takes 8 to 12 years to complete large projects. The Congress members, however, protested saying that the deadline of 5 years was for starting the project and not for completing it.
The government had in December last brought an ordinance to amend the 2013 land law. It brought a bill in Parliament to replace the ordinance but it could not be passed by Rajya Sabha in the first part of the Budget session. To facilitate re-promulgation of the ordinance, the government had prorogued Rajya Sabha, curtailing its Budget session after the first part ended on April 20.
