Hundreds of Congress workers clashed with the police on Monday during a protest against the NDA government’s Land Acquisition Bill. The clash broke out after the workers attempted to break the barricades and march towards Parliament from Jantar Mantar.
In a show of strength, the party fielded a battery of senior leaders with India Youth Congress (IYC) president Amarinder Singh Brar leading the workers. The party’s attempt to put up a united face assumes significance in the wake of reports of differences between Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and a section of senior party veterans.
“There were many senior leaders and five former IYC presidents to back the agitation. We have been able to send out the message that the party is tapping both the experience of the senior leaders and the energy of the youth,” a Congress leader told The Hindu.
Senior party leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh, Ambika Soni and Ahmed Patel addressed the protesters at Jantar Mantar. “Soniaji has said she was always with them and will continue to back and support the movement,” Mr. Patel said reading out Ms. Gandhi’s message.
On March 13, Mr. Ramesh had led a march from Bhatta and Parsaul villages in western Uttar Pradesh that became the epicentre of an anti-land acquisition agitation in 2011. The march reached Raj Ghat on Sunday evening and ended at Jantar Mantar on Monday afternoon.
Other party leaders who attended the protest included Raj Babbar, Oscar Fernandes, Randeep Surjewala, State PCC chiefs Sachin Pilot and Ashok Tanwar, Haryana MPs Kumari Selja, Deepinder Hooda and DPCC chief Ajay Maken. Promising to block the Bill’s passage in the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Azad termed the ordinance an attempt to weaken the Food Security Law passed by the UPA government. “You continue protesting outside Parliament, we will try not to let the Bill get passed when it is introduced in Parliament,” the Leader of Congress in the Rajya Sabha said.
“For the first time we put power in the hands of the farmers from the hands of the collectors. Even the land labourers were given bargaining power through the law. It had the provisions of four times compensation. We essentially repealed the century-old law,” Mr. Ramesh said.
