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Appearing visibly energised after his 56-day sabbatical, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Monday took on the Narendra Modi Government, referring to it as ‘a suit, boot ki sarkar ’ and accusing it of weakening farmers and working to serve corporate interests.
In his maiden speech from the Opposition benches in the Lok Sabha, the Congress leader said: “Your corporate friends want land of our nation. You are weakening the farmers and then you will hit them with the axe of an Ordinance.”
Participating in a discussion on the agrarian situation raised by CPI (M)’s P Karunakaran, he also opposed the new Land Bill. The Government is planning to introduce it in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing session, replacing the ordinance which was re-promulgated on April 3.
During the first phase of the Budget session, the Government did introduce the ‘Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015,’ and got it approved with nine amendments. However, it failed to see it through Rajya Sabha. After this the Upper House was prorogued to facilitate re-promulgation of the ordinance.
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Modi, Rahul Gandhi said: “I will offer an advice to the Prime Minister. He will gain politically if he changes sides as farmers are over 67 per cent of population. You are making a blunder by harming farmers and labourers and they will harm you in future.”
“The achche din Government has failed the country on minimum support price (MSP) and agriculture credit. In our time, agriculture grew. The average increase in credit was 20 per cent each year,” he said.
He also questioned the Government’s varying estimates of land affected by un-seasonal rains. Experts gave a figure of 180 lakh hectares, while the PM talked about 108 lakh hectares and finally the Agriculture Ministry said 80 lakh hectares, he said, offering another suggestion: “Why doesn’t the PM go and see for himself how much area has been affected.” This was greeted with much desk-thumping his party MPs and booing by the Treasury bench.
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