File photo of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi (Press Trust of India photo)
Rahul Gandhi will be back in Delhi to address a rally that his Congress party is planning on April 19 to protest against the government's planned land reforms, said party leader Digivjaya Singh today.
Mr Gandhi has been missing for this session of Parliament. His party has said the 44-year-old Vice President is on a "leave of absence" to "introspect and contemplate."
Congress spokespersons have refused to comment on whether Mr Gandhi has travelled abroad, or when he is likely to return.
His mother and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi led an opposition march in Delhi earlier this month to demand the government withdraw its plans to make it easier for businesses to acquire farmland. Mrs Gandhi says the new proposal is anti-farmer and that the government must abide by the law on land acquisition that was passed in 2013, when her party led a coalition government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made amending that law the centrepiece of the reform effort in the first year of his administration.
An executive order or ordinance that makes huge changes to the 2013 law was issued by the government in December and expires on April 5. The Rural Development Ministry is preparing a new decree to replace it.
The government and many industrialists say billions of dollars of infrastructure projects are held up because of the difficulties involved in acquiring land under the 2013 law which requires approval of 80 per cent of the affected landowners as well as carrying out a social impact assessment study.
The Modi government's new proposal was passed by the Lok Sabha or lower house of Parliament, but could not be brought to the Rajya Sbha or upper house where the government is in a minority, and was blocked by a united opposition. To become law, the proposal must be cleared by both houses of Parliament.
An ordinance lapses if it is not approved within six weeks of Parliament convening.