Hitting back at Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the Land Bill issue, BJP leader Nitin Gadkari on Monday accused her of misleading the country and alleged that UPA policies had resulted in unemployment, farmers’ suicides and shattered the economy.
Responding to a letter written by Ms. Gandhi to him on the issue, Mr. Gadkari urged her not to ‘politicise’ the matter.
“In the last one year since the law was enacted, not a single acre of land was acquired under the legislation brought by the UPA for irrigation and other rural and social infrastructure projects and farmers remained dependent on rains all the time.’’
Mr. Gadkari countered criticism on the move to keep consent and social impact assessment out of the purview of the Bill, by saying that the UPA government willingly created a system in which big land acquisition projects were out of the social assessment while welfare projects run by State governments were embroiled in these processes. “Was this done to favour private companies?’’ he asked.
Arguing that most land is acquired for irrigation purposes, he said the NDA had not done away with social impact assessment but given the States the right to go for it.
Published - March 31, 2015 04:19 am IST
