As the dissent against Land Bill mounts, BJP fights perception war

The BJP has begun a nationwide outreach campaign in addition to whipping up votes to push the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015 through a joint session of Parliament.

Although the ruling party believes the popular discontent over the Bill is largely a result of the media creating a reductionist debate on the “industry-versus-farmers” theme, it has still pulled out all stops to rectify the impression.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radio address on the issue was a part of this campaign that involves getting ministers and MPs to address farmers’ concerns in their constituencies, urging party workers to reach out to various stakeholders and engaging the media in a more constructive debate over the proposed legislation.

BJP president Amit Shah reached out even to the much-ignored Margdarshak Mandal members LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi on Tuesday afternoon.

Although the party was at pains to stress that such meetings are “routine”, the Margdarshak Mandal is most often not told, let alone be consulted, on critical issues such as the BJP’s alliance with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir or choosing Kiran Bedi as the party’s chief ministerial candidate in Delhi.

In this light, the meetings were seen as part of the fresh round of consultations on the contentious Bill.

In this process, a senior leader said, the BJP is open to more changes in the amendment Bill that has already been passed in the Lok Sabha.

However, the party is still not willing to compromise on the most contentious clause in the Bill — removal of consent in respect of land acquired for rural infrastructure, industrial corridors, affordable housing or defence production projects.

The BJP is conscious of the Opposition’s resistance to the Bill and backdoor negotiations with parties such as the BJD, the BSP and the AIADMK will be part of the process to push the legislation through a joint session of Parliament.

“It is a reality that we do not have the numbers to get the Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha. And we know that there is a provision to hold a joint session of Parliament,” said a top BJP leader.

The BJP also held a top-level coordination meeting with RSS office-bearers on Monday to discuss the present political situation including discontent over the Land Bill.

Although the BJP leadership has closed ranks with the RSS to jointly fight what they refer to as a “perception problem” with the Bill, many in the party say the consultations are an “afterthought”.

“The fact is that the Bill has been labelled as anti-farmer. You can say that it is a wrong perception created by the media. But politics is all about perception.

“What we need to watch out for is whether the perception this time reflects the reality at all. If that is the case, we need to worry about its political fallout,” said a BJP leader.

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