Cong protests attract modest crowds

Chanting Rahul Gandhi’s name, Congress leaders on Wednesday hit the streets, protesting against Modi government’s move to “dilute” the land acquisition law.

However, the much-touted “zameen wapsi abhiyan” of the Congress could barely attract crowd despite the presence of senior leaders ranging from Ajay Maken to Jairam Ramesh who tried to project Rahul as a “great leader” trying to save the farmers from the “evil designs” of the Modi government.

On Tuesday, social activist Anna Hazare spearheaded a agitation on the same issue and had attracted a huge crowd.

Rahul was scheduled to lead the anti-government protests before he decided to proceed on a sabbatical to reflect and introspect on ways to revive the Congress, putting the party leaders in a spot.

At the two-hour long sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar, Ramesh hoped that the agitation would provide a “sanjiveeni” (a source of rejuvenation) for the Congress that is reeling under successive electoral defeats.

Interestingly, the young turks of the Congress such as Bhanwar Jitendra Singh, Deepender Hooda, Jyotiraditya Scindia tried to give all the credit for the passage of the “pathbreaking” Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act. The party elders such as Ahmed Patel and Digvijaya Singh were strident in their attack on the Modi government for diluting the Act.

Singh projected the agitation against land ordinance as a “fight between farmers-labourers and big industrialists”. He accused Modi of not honouring the promises made to people but fulfilling the assurances he had given to big industrialists.

Scindia said the Congress may have been reduced to just 44 seats in the Lok Sabha but Rahul Gandhi had instilled the confidence in the party to take on the 282-member BJP.

Senior leaders Raj Babbar, T S Subirami Reddy, Ashwani Kumar, Pradeep Jain, Pramod Tiwari, Dhirendra Singh, Ambika Soni, V Hanumantha Rao and P C Chacko were present at the protests.