Even though the Congress’s protest at Jantar Mantar against the government’s proposed land law failed to pull the crowds it expected, the party organisation tried to put up a united front fielding a plethora of senior leaders on Wednesday.
Though, vice-president Rahul Gandhi remained absent from the protest rally because he is abroad, a number of senior leaders, including several former Ministers, spoke against the government’s move to dilute the UPA’s original land bill.
Notable among the speakers were Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s Political Secretary Ahmed Patel and party general secretary Digvijaya Singh. Mr. Singh tweeted on Tuesday defending Mr. Gandhi’s decision to go on leave but raised concerns about his choice of timing. Among the reasons proffered by party sources for Mr. Gandhi’s sudden withdrawal from the agitation and parliamentary proceedings was his disagreement with the old guard. Party leaders, however, said he is drawing up a blueprint for the future Congress and is likely to take over as the party president shortly after his return.
The party leadership coming out in full strength at the public rally was contrary to the original plan of fielding a handful of leaders considered close to Mr. Gandhi, a Congress source revealed. “It is meant to send out the message that the Congress is not a divided house,” he added.
A U.P. Congress leader claimed that the Delhi police had diverted farmers who came to attend the public meeting to other parts of Delhi. “They diverted thousands of farmers towards South Delhi and Rajghat,” UPCC leader Dhirendra Singh said.
Speaker after speaker credited the Congress vice-president with devising the UPA’s 2013 legislation. Former Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said with the ordinance, the NDA government had negated a prolonged effort to do away with the archaic British land laws. “From the Gram Sabhas, the power has gone back to the collectors,” he said.
Mr. Singh accused the government of favouring corporates over farmers. Mr. Patel said the Congress kept the poor in focus while framing laws and policy and dubbed the NDA government as anti-farmer.
Earlier in the day, Jagdish Sharma, a Delhi-based Congress functionary, had tweeted photographs of Mr Gandhi camping in an undisclosed location in Uttarakhand. Mr. Gandhi’s office denied it adding that the pictures were old.
