NEW DELHI, December 31, 2014
Anumeha Yadav
Mamata terms decision ‘black’ and ‘unjust’
The National Democratic Alliance’s latest Ordinance to amend the Land Acquisition Act could turn out to be a unifying factor for the Opposition to take on the government.
A day after the Union Cabinet approved the amendment to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Act, 2013, making land acquisition for projects related to industrial corridors, defence, infrastructure and social infrastructure easier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee referred to the decision as “black” and “unjust.”
“The Union government has forcibly brought an ordinance on land acquisition. The country is going through a dangerous phase due to the BJP government,” she said at a party meeting. “We will fight against the black and unjust Ordinance by burning symbolic copies of it.”
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) termed the decision to promulgate the Ordinance “authoritarian.” “The BJP government’s decision to amend the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act through the Ordinance route favours the interests of corporates and real estate barons. This decision is in continuation of the ordinances passed on coal privatisation and raising the FDI in insurance,” the party said in a statement and appealed to “all democratic forces” to oppose the “anti-democratic and authoritarian acts” of the Centre.
If the joint Opposition blocks the Bill to replace the ordinance in the Rajya Sabha, where it has a majority, the government will have no option but to resort to a joint sitting of Parliament.
While Congress leaders admitted to having differences within the party over the Land Acquisition Act, with some sections supporting the view that it made takeover of property a lengthy process, party leaders spoke in a united voice condemning the government’s step to amend the Act.
Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh, under whose tenure as Union Rural Development Minister the Act was passed, said the Ordinance was “deeply disturbing,” and added that the exemptions would lead to forcible land acquisition and diversion of land acquired.
Talking to presspersons, Mr. Ramesh acknowledged that though the Congress had supporters and detractors of the Act passed in September 2013, he said it had been passed unanimously while incorporating amendments suggested by BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
He denied the government’s claim of complaints by various States as well as industry. “Where is the evidence,” he asked. Mr. Ramesh criticised the government for making the changes through an Ordinance when Parliament was to meet soon for the Budget session.
“This will further vitiate the atmosphere in the Rajya Sabha. I cannot see how the Congress, the CPI(M), the Janata Dal(U) and the Trinamool Congress will support this,” he said. “There were 14 hours of debate on the Land Act in Parliament, 65 members spoke, [now Union Home Minister] Rajnath Singh spoke on it in the Rajya Sabha, [now External Affairs Minister] Sushma Swaraj in the Lok Sabha, [now Communications Minister] Ravi Shankar Prasad in the Rajya Sabha. This (Ordinance) should have been avoided, and now we will have to wait for Parliament to convene,” he said.
Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh tweeted that the amendment was “anti- farmer.” “The Congress will oppose every move to dilute the Land Acquisition Act,” and added that “all political parties who are pro-farmers must come together to oppose it.” The former Union Minister Manish Tewari said that by diluting the Act, the government had sent out a message that “it is a government of the corporates, by the corporates and for the corporates.”
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