Amarinder questions Badal’s ‘silence’ over new land bill

Questioning the “intriguing silence” of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal over the new land bill, Congress leader Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said dilution of the pro-farmer Land Acquisition Act enacted by the previous UPA government in 2014, will not be allowed at any cost.

“The BJP led NDA government, of which Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) is part and parcel, is subtly trying to revert back to the Land Acquisition Law of 1894 of the British which was absolutely exploitative and had been enacted mainly to serve the colonial interests,” the former Punjab Chief Minister remarked, while warning, that it will not be allowed at any cost come what may.

“Badal, who claims to be the sole representative and the guardian of the farmers’ interests has resorted to intriguing silence on such a crucial matter concerning them (farmers),” Mr. Amarinder said.

“The very fact that the BJP did not wait for the Parliament to convene and issued an ordinance earlier to dilute the law thus putting the farmers’ at a massive disadvantage, smacks of something fishy,” Mr. Amarinder said in a statement here.

Mr. Amarinder expressed confidence that the new bill, “which is totally against the interests of the farmers, will not sail through the Parliament as the NDA lacks the numbers in the Rajya Sabha“.

He said, when the law was passed by the UPA, the BJP had very much been taken into confidence at that time.

“Now, it (BJP) probably wants to prove more loyal to the corporate houses while ignoring the genuine concerns and apprehensions of millions of farmers across the country,” he claimed.

The Congress leader also said that appreciating and understanding the concerns of the farmers and defending their rights should not mean that the Congress did not want the business and investments to grow.

“But we can’t rob Peter to pay Paul, we have to draw a perfect balance,” he remarked.