Rahul vows to oppose land bill inside and outside Parliament

With the controversial Land Acquisition Bill back in Lok Sabha, a combative Rahul Gandhi today led the opposition attack on the government and vowed to oppose it inside and outside Parliament even as ruling NDA allies Shiv Sena and Akali Dal also voiced their reservations.

Shiv Sena and Akali Dal demanded that the bill be sent to a joint parliamentary committee.

Asserting that Congress will fiercely resist within and outside Parliament the attempt of "suit-boot ki sarkar" to "grab" farmers' land, Rahul accused the government of being "in a hurry to pass this bill" as it wanted to acquire land for industrialist "friends" and crony capitalists.

The debate on the measure came only after acrimonious exchanges over procedures for the consideration and passage of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Second Bill 2015, which even led to a brief adjournment of the House.

The debate saw opposition parties like the Congress, AIADMK, TMC, BJD and the Left oppose the measure. They were joined by ruling NDA partner Shiv Sena's Arvind Sawant and SAD's R S Brahmpura who asked the government to send it to a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) for detailed deliberations on its provisions.

Stoutly opposing the bill, Rahul said its passage "will not happen so easily. If we are not able to stop it here (in Parliament), we will hit the streets against it outside."

The Congress Vice President drew a parallel between a daylight robbery and the proposed law, saying an economist had told him that thieves wearing suits now strike during daylight.

Hitting out at the bill, he termed it as an attempt by the government to acquire land, whose price has been rising, for industrialist "friends" and crony capitalists. "This government wants to give land to crony capitalists and its industrialist friends because it's a 'suit-boot ki sarkar'."

Rahul's repeated jibes at the Modi government invited running protests from the treasury benches.

Rahul said it took the UPA government two years to bring the land acquisition law "but the NDA government killed it within days of coming to power. The first blow with an axe was right at its (bill) throat when the government decided to remove the consent clause.
"When the body had fallen, then it dealt a second blow of the axe. You said there should be no social impact assessment."

He said the "third blow of the axe" fell when the government diluted the existing provision on returning the land to the owner if no project came up for five years.

Rejecting the government's stand that the new law was needed for faster development, the Congress leader quoted an RTI reply, saying it has shown that only 8 per cent of projects have been hampered due to non-availability of land.

He said there is no dearth of land for development purposes as 40 per cent of land in the SEZ was lying unutilised but the NDA government was hell-bent on taking the land only from the farmers.

Terming the government as anti-farmer and anti-poor, Rahul said it does not want to acquire land in Bundelkhand or in the deserts of Rajasthan but those near big cities like Noida, Gurgaon and Pune to make money as their prices have been rising.

"Gold lies beneath your feet. These people want to snatch it," he said amid cheers from Congress benches.

The Congress leader said the law enacted in 2013 had a provision that land, acquired from a farmer, will have to be returned to the farmer if no project comes up in five years.
"This was the third blow when you said that there is no need to return land to farmers even if the project does not take off or is delayed by 10, 20 or 50 years," he said.

Taking a dig at BJP leaders, Rahul said its top leaders like L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh, while sitting in opposition benches, had "even thumped the desks" when land bill was passed in 2013 during UPA's tenure.

"They had supported the bill then, but I don't know why they changed their stance today. It can either be that their mind changed, or they are scared lest they say something wrong," the Congress leader said.

Countering Gandhi, BJP's Dilip Singh Bhuria accused him of "shedding crocodile tears for the farmers and doing nothing for them".

He said Congress would be held responsible for their suicides as it has been "misleading" the farming community.

He also claimed the new bill provided for four times more compensation than provided in the existing law.

The BJP member also said that "only 0.5 per cent of land" was proposed to be acquired. He attacked the Congress over corruption.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and TMC's Saugata Roy raised points of order, alleging that Bhuria was not speaking on the bill but on extraneous issues. To this, Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai said he would go through the records and remove anything unparliamentary.

P Venugopal (AIADMK) accused the government of creating "history of sorts by bringing the second (land acquisition) bill even before the first bill has been passed".
Expressing "serious apprehensions" about its provisions, he said the government should be reconsider the measure.

Sudip Bandopadhyay (TMC) opposed the bill, saying his party has been against any move for "forcible acquisition of land" and had protested such moves in Singur in West Bengal.
Questioning the necessity of bringing the new bill, he said it had opposed the earlier bill also, which was then supported by both BJP and Congress.

Opposing the measure, B Majhi (BJD) warned that land acquisition had "major repercussions" as those displaced never got proper compensation and were pushed into penury.

Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena) demanded that the bill be sent to the joint parliamentary committee, as he sought explanation from the government as to why the consent clause was being removed or social impact assessment not being done.

Noting that those displaced by Koyna Dam or Narmada projects were yet to be properly rehabilitated, he said "I am pained that you (government) have not thought of these issues."

Maintaining that a job would be given to only one member of a displaced family, Sawant said even this job would be given only after the project comes up. He also wanted to know whether "you will remove a factory along one km of an industrial corridor or just take land from the farmer."

Opposition members, including AIADMK, protested moving of the bill for consideration, saying it was a futile exercise as a similar bill was already passed by the House earlier. They sought a division but Speaker Sumitra Mahajan adjourned the House for ten minutes.

When the House re-assembled, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the government was willing to send the bill to a parliamentary committee and the opposition should decide if they want to discuss it or not.

Saugata Roy (TMC) said they wanted division but Mahajan adjourned the House noting that the strength of the treasury benches was low that time and sought a ruling from her.

An upset Mahajan said, "Don't say so. Don't let incorrect matter go on record". She said the motion for consideration and passage of the bill was adopted.

Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP) cautioned the government against taking away land from farmers saying if they commit this "sin", they will again become opposition party in Parliament.

Yadav said his party is not against industrialisation, but demanded to know from the government the names of the corporates who would acquire land, how many people would get employment and what kind of job would they be given.

Md Salim (CPIM) said the Centre is undertaking "futile exercise" and bringing Ordinance as they are unable to pass legislations in Parliament.

He said the government is unable to assess the gravity of the situation and alleged that some members of the treasury benches were sleeping when the land Bill was debated in the House.

The ruling party considers farmers to be "helpless" lot and hence do not think necessary to take their consent for land acquisition.

"The amendment to 2013 Land Acquisition Act is based on greed and not on need," Salim said, adding that the Centre is now following the Gujarat model which is based on giving away land to corporates.

Rajamohan Reddy (YSRCP) opposed the Bill saying the party is against acquisition of multi crop and fertile land. Besides they are also against acquisition without studying the social and environment impact.

Opposing certain amendments in the Bill, N K Premachandran (RSP) demanded that it be referred to the JPC.

He said even if the consent clause is being done away with in case of defence projects, the social impact assessment should remain for all projects.

Jayadev Galla (TDP) too demanded that the Bill be referred to the JPC, but with reasonable deadline.

B Vinod Kumar (TRS) demanded to know in which states are the corporates facing trouble in land acquisition. He demanded that the Government should have discussed with all political parties and Chief Ministers and then bring the legislation.

He also wanted the Bill be referred to JPC.

Tariq Anwar (NCP) demanded to know from the government what is the urgency is bringing the Ordinance so many times.

Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav (RJD) alleged that the law is being created in corporate interest and farmers want smart village and not smart city.