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The Shiv Sena and the Shiromani Akali Dal are other prominent NDA allies which are opposed to the Bill. A delegation of Akali MPs met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today. Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal will be in New Delhi on Thursday to impress upon top government ministers the need for a rethink on certain clauses of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2015.
The LJP and the Akalis want changes to the consent clause and rethink on doing away with the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) for rural infrastructure projects. The Akalis have also suggested that the Bill be referred to a select committee of the Lok Sabha, which will give the government six to eight weeks to put its point of view across, before the Bill is taken up in the second half of the Budget session.
Some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs have conveyed to the party leadership that they were perturbed the BJP was losing the "perception war" with the opposition and activist groups succeeding in painting it as "anti-farmer".
Top government ministers, like Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, maintained the government was open to suggestions on the issue. But all indications from them and other ministers suggested that the government was in no mood to relent on any of the substantive clauses, particularly the consent clause and SIA.
Senior ministers are convinced that in the months to come the government will be able to "expose" the opponents of the Bill as those who don't want development in rural areas. It is also determined to re-promulgate the ordinance if the Bill is defeated in the Rajya Sabha. For the joint session mechanism might not work if NDA allies oppose the Bill. Gadkari said development cannot be hostage to consent of those whose lands were being acquired. He said NDA allies and Sangh Parivar outfits opposed to the Bill were "confused" because of the propaganda against the Bill, but will come around.
Naidu told the Lok Sabha that some BJP MPs have suggested changes to the Bill, including better price for owners of land acquired 15-20 years back but lying unutilized, and also a rethink on the bill doing away with the clause that the acquired land will be returned if unutilized for five years.Both Naidu and Gadkari charged the opposition of "hypocrisy" and "doublespeak" on the issue. Gadkari said Prithviraj Chavan, as the CM of Congress-NCP government, had written to the Centre about the problems with the UPA's land bill of 2013. Gadkari said several others governments, including of the Congress and Left parties governments, had demanded changes when he as the rural development minister held a meeting on the issue on June 27, 2014. He, however, didn't share the details of this correspondence.
It is likely that the Land Bill is taken up in the Lok Sabha in the first week of March. The NDA government had promulgated the land ordinance on December 31, and tabled the Bill to replace the oridnance in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Naidu said the government will not bring ordinances if the opposition allowed Parliament to function. He said 637 ordinances have been promulgated in 62 years at the rate of 11 ordinances per year. Of these, 456 ordinances have been promulgated during years Congress ruled at the Centre, and 77 ordinances during the Left parties supported United Front government of 1996 to 1998.
The Congress, Trinamool, the left parties and Aam Aadmi Party staged a walkout during his speech in the Lok Sabha on the President's address, while Mulayam Singh Yadav led Samajwadi Party and Biju Janata Dal were two prominent opposition parties that didn't. Yadav said fertile lands should not be acquired.
