A day after Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari sought to make out a case for the government’s land ordinance at a press briefing, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made a spirited defence of the land reforms that have been denounced as “anti-farmer” and “pro-corporate” by a united Opposition and civil society groups.
Mr. Jaitley’s speech in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday is being read as the government’s definitive stand, the position that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to take on this controversial issue.
Sources said Mr. Modi is absolutely clear that he will not allow major changes to what he sees as one of his key reforms.
On Wednesday, in discussions with Cabinet colleagues on how to tackle the dissent, Mr. Modi indicated that an all-party meeting would serve little purpose since the Opposition had shown no signs of softening. Worse, BJP allies Shiromani Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and Lok Janshakti Party also expressed their reservations. Now it is learnt that another NDA partner, the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, is poised to do the same.
Against this backdrop of a hardened stand, Mr. Jaitley made a frontal attack on the Congress, under whose watch the Land Acquisition Act — that this government is seeking to amend — was enacted in 2013. “Don’t create an environment in this country in which the two words, infrastructure and industry, become bad words,” he said
'UPA's land law was disastrous'
Mr. Jaitley, defending the land ordinance on Thursday, spun the Opposition’s accusation around to describe it as being opposed to development and national security.
The UPA’s land law, he cited as an example, had had a “disastrous impact” on India’s national security. Pakistan could get information on critical new defence projects as the previous government had “forgotten to put such projects in the exempted list,” even though defence and security were described as urgent matters.
As signatures of 70 per cent of the villagers (whose lands were being acquired) would be needed to mark their consent, and a social impact assessment would have to be done, the nature and location of the concerned defence or security project would be in the public domain. Thanks to this, Mr. Jaitley said, India’s strategic installations had been held up.
Persuasive as Mr. Jaitley’s arguments in the Rajya Sabha were, the Opposition remained adamant on its rejection of the amendments. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu’s personal attack on political parties in the Lok Sabha did not help to improve the atmosphere either.
The new land Bill that was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday amid vociferous objections from the Opposition will now be taken up next week after the Union Budget is presented on Saturday.
Asked whether the government planned to use a joint sitting of Parliament if the land Bill failed to get through the Rajya Sabha, where the NDA is in a minority, a senior Cabinet Minister merely said: “Let us see.”
With six ordinances lined up in this session, it appears likely that the land ordinance will be left for later — and less controversial ones relating to motor vehicles and citizenship, among others, may be taken up first.
On Thursday, in the Lok Sabha, the government used its numbers to withdraw the old citizenship Bill that had been introduced on December 23, 2014, and introduced a new post-ordinance version.
