New Delhi : Ending the prolonged political strife over the land acquisition law, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to let the controversial ordinance lapse and go back to the 2013 Land Acquisition Law that was passed by the UPA government.
The Prime Minister who normally steers clear of strong political issues during his frequent radio talk “Mann Ki Baat”, made a specific reference to this subject today. “We had brought an ordinance, this was to lapse on August 31st, I have decided to let it lapse, this means that the position that existed before my government was formed, would be re-established,” he said, adding that the 13 points that were to be included in the law within a year”s time as per the previous act would be brought in immediately by an executive order.
Modi”s radio announcement comes in the backdrop of the government”s inability to push its proposed amendments to the land law in the monsoon session of Parliament amid widespread opposition. But even as he retreated, the Prime Minister attacked the opposition for stirring a controversy on the land bill. He said: “Many rumours being spread about the land acquisition bill. Farmers have been scared… We do not want that. Amending the bill had become essential to free it from red tape.”
The opposition saw this
move as a vindication of its position on the bill. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the country had lost eight months due to “politics of obstinacy, rigidity and non-engagement” by the Modi Government. “Truth has ultimately prevailed “, said senior party leader Jairam Ramesh, who was the brain behind the UPA”s land acquisition Act.
In his radio talk, the Prime Minister also made a reference to another sensitive political issue – the pro-reservation agitation of the Patel community in his home state Gujarat. “The recent incidents of violence in Gujarat have upset the entire nation. Whatever happens to the land of (Mahatma) Gandhi and Sardar Patel, the nation is shocked and pained first. Peace, unity and brotherhood are the only correct way and we have to walk together on the path of development as only it is the solution of our problems,” he observed while adding that development alone can solve all problems and asked people to work in this direction.
However the prime minister did not make any reference to the pending one rank one pension issue over which the army veterans have been agitation for months. But he did recall the former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri”s slogan “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan”in the context of the golden jubilee of the 1965 Indo-Pak war and lauded the role of all those played a role in the war effort.
