After goading Delhiites to refuse to pay power bills, anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal's next target for similar treatment is Haryana’s chief minister, Bhupinder SIngh Hooda.
As the Union government prepares to pass the latest version of the Land Acquisition Bill that allows acquisition for public purposes without consent of the owners if needed, Kejriwal today gave a call to farmers in Haryana to refuse to part with a single inch of land to either the government or private sector. And, asked people to be prepared to take back all the gram sabha land acquired by the government and distributed to companies. He said a high court order of February 3, 2011, allowed them to do so and they should proceed on it, breaking the buildings that have come up and take back the land.
“Whenever people refuse to pay their bills, power supply is disconnected. I would then go and reconnect it. We would do the same thing in Haryana, where land is being acquired for any purpose,” he told farmers in Haryana.
He said Hooda was changing the land use of every acquired lot, then giving it to private companies, especially the big names such as DLF, Reliance, Unitech, Ramprastha, etc. It was the same way Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit was letting Reliance and Tata raise power prices for their profit, at the cost of consumers, he charged.
“Hooda is an agent for these companies and people should not allow this to go on,” he said. “If you are ready to die for your land, call me and I will be the first one to die before you.”
He said the only way to acquire any land should be by calling the gram sabha, the population of the entire village, and asking for consent.
Other leaders of his India Against Corruption movement such as Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav and Manish Sisodia also spoke to the farmers. They said the Lok Sabha elections would see farmers heading a political revolution which would empower them to make a land acquisition law that did not compromise their interests or leave the country without food security.
The IAC would also be making new revelations tomorrow, on an important issue and an important personality, sources said. It would not be about land or farmers but another important issue, they said.
