BJP seeks Sangh's support on land bill

A day after the prime minister blamed opposition parties for spreading lies over land acquisition bill, top BJP leaders sought the support of the RSS brass on Monday to correct perception that the legislation was anti-farmer.

 
Supposed to a coordination meeting between the party and its ideological mentor,  the three-hour long session between the two sides saw BJP leaders including key Union ministers – Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari – practically urge the RSS top brass to intervene in support of the government by asking its cadres to involve in explaining the controversial land bill which is stuck in Parliament.

Though officially it was stated that politics was not discussed, the RSS during the meeting cautioned the BJP over the need to address the fact that the message among the public on the land bill was not right.

To this, the BJP top brass sought the help of Sangh’s countrywide network of Swayamsevaks to reach out to the people on changes brought in the bill for the benefit of farmers and to upgrade rural infrastructure. The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha with nine amendments but the government did not table it in the Rajya Sabha in the just concluded Parliament session owing to stiff resistance from the Congress-led united opposition.  RSS Sah Sarkaryavaha (Additional General Secretary) Dattatreya Hosbale had recently said that the Sangh did not believe that the bill was anti-farmer but had wanted that “government should work towards proper implementation of those farmer friendly amendments at ground level”.