Land Bill modified to favour corporates, alleges Joshi

Says the NDA govt completely puts aside the interests of the common man

Congress General Secretary C P Joshi today alleged that the Land Acquisition Bill was being modified by the government to favour corporate houses.

The BJP-led government at the Centre is only interested in forming policies to favour corporates while completely putting aside the interests of the common man, Joshi alleged while talking to reporters here about the performance of Modi government in its first year.

The former Union Minister claimed that when the previous UPA government prepared the Land Acquisition Bill, BJP leaders like Rajnath Singh, Sumitra Mahajan and Sushma Swaraj were in that parliamentary committee.

"Along with them, I was also part of that committee. After more than one year of deliberations, the draft Bill was prepared and later on passed unanimously in Parliament. Modi was not in picture at that time (2013). However, everything changed after he assumed power," said Joshi.

"As soon as he came to power, Modi suggested several changes in the Land Act, which were pro-farmer. Now, he has introduced such a Bill that will benefit the corporates," he alleged.

Taking a satirical dig at Modi's slogan 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas', Joshi said the new mantra of the Modi government is 'Corporate ka Sath-Khud ka Vikas'.

Apart from Land bill, the Centre is in the process to amend two more Acts to favour corporates, he further alleged.

"In the name of Digital India campaign, Modi wanted to end Net Neutrality. He wanted to give all the powers in the hands of some telecom firms. Luckily, our leader Rahul Gandhi and many citizens raised their voices and compelled the government to come clean on this issue," he said.

"Similarly, this government is now planning to bring a Real Estate Bill, which is also devised to help builders and ignore the interests of common man. It shows that Modi government is only committed to corporates and completely ignored the interests of people," he charged.

On the performance of the NDA government, Joshi said that the Modi government has significantly curtailed spending on social sector.

"This government has decided to spend Rs 1.75 lakh crore less on social sector, such as education, health and agriculture. It means that less benefit will reach the poor citizens, even though the Modi government claims that they are working for the poor and downtrodden," he claimed.

On the issue of recent price hike of petrol and diesel, the Congress leader blamed the Central government for not passing the benefit of reduction of crude prices in international market.

"Though crude prices have drastically reduced in the international market, the Centre refused to pass on the benefit to common man. Instead, they deposited Rs 80,000 crore in their treasury while oil companies were given Rs 90,000 crore," Joshi alleged.

"Is this the commitment of this government towards poor citizens?" he asked.