JOIN USAnti-graft activist Anna Hazare, who led a two-day protest by farmers in Delhi against the Land Acquisition Bill, on Thursday, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was ‘allergic’ to him.
“Modi is allergic to my name. It is because I had said before the last year’s Lok Sabha polls and neither Modi nor Rahul Gandhi could not ensure development of the country,” Anna Hazare said in an informal chat with reporters in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnore district, about 400 kilometres from here.
“The industrialist rules over the mind of the Prime Minister. That is why he has been pushing for the Land Acquisition Bill,” he added.
Anna said Modi should learn some lesson from the fate of the previous UPA regime.
“The previous regime too did not want the Lokpal. What happened to it,” he said.
“It is Modi’s first stint as Prime Minister. He should understand that the peoples’ Parliament is more powerful than any other Parliament. He should not underestimate the power of the people,” he remarked.
Meanwhile, the protest against the Land Acquisition Bill reached Modi’s lok sabha constituency of Varanasi also. Hundreds of farmers staged a demonstration at Lohta village in protest against the Bill.
The farmers also plan to write letters to Modi urging him to withdraw the Bill as it was ‘anti-farmer’.
The farmers, who carried posters and banners inscribed with anti-acquisition Bill slogans, also raised slogans against the Prime Minister.
“Modi has seen poverty. He should understand our situation. We live by the land,” said Ram Kisun, a farmer, who also participated in the demonstration.
The farmers warned that the agitation against the Bill would intensify in the days to come.
“We will intensify our protest. We will be meeting farmers from other districts as well in this regard,” said Ram Kisun.