FILE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with senior BJP ministers. (Press Trust of India photo)
It was expected but the re-promulgation of the land ordinance has once again come with more controversies. The Union Cabinet gave a go-ahead to the land ordinance for the third time today, after it failed to get support for the Land Acquisition Bill in Parliament in the face of a united Opposition.
Within hours of the cabinet decision,
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "Modi ji in an amazing hurry to grab land from poor farmers at any cost. A 3rd attempt at pushing the anti farmer Land Ordinance! Congress Party will continue to fight for the rights of the kisan and mazdoor against this #suitbootkisarkar. (sic)"
The tweets got an almost immediate rebuttal from the government with Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad saying, "Rahul Gandhi's allegations are misleading and false. 13 areas left out of the UPA act included by us. Has Rahul Gandhi decided he will not tell the truth? This ordinance re-promulgated is in the interest of farmers."
After failing to build a consensus during the Budget session of the Parliament, the government finally agreed to send the bill to a joint parliamentary committee that met on Friday for the first time. With a joint panel already looking into the contentious bill, the Opposition has questioned the timing of the ordinance. Former Union Minister and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, "The sky isn't going to fall if they don't re-promulgate the ordinance. This is an insult to the joint panel. Is the joint panel a formality? Government has made up its mind that the amendments included in ordinance will go as it is."
Earlier in the day, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said, "It is well known that these people want to take away farmers' land. They can't pass it in the Rajya Sabha and that's what they want to bring in ordinance after ordinance to do this."
The issue of farmers' consent and compensation has been at the very center of the debate on the land bill with the government claiming it's in the interest of farmers as the opposition calls it anti-farmer. The re-promulgation of the ordinance will only add more fuel to this raging fire.