The BJP believes it has the backing of the States on the Land Acquisition Ordinance after holding meetings with several State revenue secretaries who all demanded that the process of acquiring land for major projects be made easier.
Several well-known names like Medha Patkar and RSS ideologue K.N. Govindacharya will join the Delhi protests that will start at Jantar Mantar on Monday. The Congress is scheduled to plan its own agitations while the Opposition parties are likely to unite in Parliament against the ordinance.
The focus of attention, however, will be activist Anna Hazare on his first major comeback to the capital to agitate on a national issue. The question on everyone’s mind is whether the original anti-corruption crusader is still a relevant figure and whether he can build a space for the Opposition around the land ordinance agitation.
Sociologist Dipankar Gupta says that it will be difficult to recreate the effects of the anti-corruption movement since land acquisition is essentially a rural concern.
“The anti-corruption movement is about civic services which concern everybody but is more an urban concern since it is linked to aspiration. With land acquisition you do not have the same profile of people as it doesn’t affect everybody,” he says.
AAP leader Yogendra Yadav says that the coming together of different agitating groups is a coincidence that has given the impression of a planned and concerted effort against the government. He argues that this has happened because the government is so much in the wrong over the proposed ordinance but at the same time doesn’t see it as a space for Opposition unity. “Ï do not see a major political realignment taking place on this question that involves the Aam Aadmi Party,” he told The Hindu .
Political scientist P.K. Datta of Delhi University argues on the other hand, that while the anti-corruption movemen’s popularity owes much to the large participation of the middle class the land acquisition issue could potentially affect the lives of more people.
Published - February 22, 2015 01:19 am IST
