The issue of land acquisition bill today rocked the Lok Sabha with the Opposition accusing the government of bulldozing it in the Lower House on the strength of "sheer numbers".
The issue cropped up during a discussion on the agrarian situation in the country when P Karunakaran (CPI-M) said although the Land Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha, "a large number of members and a large number of parties were not in favour of passing this bill".
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill 2015, was passed by Lok Sabha on March 10 and is yet to be taken up by the Rajya Sabha.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu retorted by saying: "Why have they passed it? If a number of members and a number of parties do not want to pass it, has God come and made them to pass it? It is a democracy with open voting in the House".
When Opposition said it was passed just on account of "sheer numbers", Naidu said democracy is also about numbers and members.
Joining the issue, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said "It is also a question of everybody's acceptance. When you get power, you must act judiciously; you should not bulldoze. That is the only request... You should not feel that you can do anything you want".
Naidu replied by saying that the NDA government has learned from "your experience of Emergency and we are products of the anti-Emergency movement... You have set so many precedents. We are fortunate to have those precedents... We are learning from you".
During the discussion on agrarian situation, which was marred by several interruptions, Karunakaran said even BJD and NDA constituent Shiv Sena abstained from voting "because they knew that it was not in the interest of the people".
