Kejri to lead march against Land Bill

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kerjiwal will lead a protest march from Jantar Mantar to Parliament against the Land Acquisition Bill on April 22.

He will also address a rally of AAP supporters at Jantar Mantar, said senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh.

“(Narendra) Modi government has issued a diktat for forcefully evicting farmers and rural people from their land. The law is being amended so that land can be acquired at will without the farmers’ consent,” a party pamphlet says in Hindi, urging supporters to join the protest march.

The AAP in the national council meet on March 28 had resolved to hold a march against the Bill and had formed a committee in the regard. The committee comprising of senior party leaders Ilyas Azmi, Yogesh Dahiya, Gurnam Singh, Prem Singh Pahadi and Kiran Vissa are working out the details of the party’s agitation programme.

The contentious ordinance on Friday was re-promulgated after getting a nod from the President Pranab Mukherjee.

The pending legislation, titled the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, seeks to replace the ordinance that was promulgated in December.

The ordinance faces major hurdle in Rajya Sabha where the ruling NDA coalition lacks numbers to get it passed. Meanwhile, the  Kejriwal government has assured relief package to farmers hit by unseasonal rain in the national capital.

AAP said that MLAs from the rural outskirts of the city called on the CM at the Secretariat on Friday. Sharad Chauhan MLA from Narela, Rajendra Dabas (Mundka), Kailash Gehlot (Najafgarh) and Gulab Singh (Matiala) apprised Kejriwal of extent of damage to crops in their constituencies.