Amid rough ride, land Bill may go to panel

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 24

The new Land Acquisition Bill is likely to be delayed given the sentiment prevailing in the country.

Sources say the contentious legislation is expected to make it to the Lok Sabha between May 5 and 8. After it lands in the Rajya Sabha, where the BJP-led NDA doesn’t have the numbers, it could be sent to a Select Committee in order to make it “more acceptable”.

The sources say the government may send it to the Select Committee as it had in the case of the Insurance Bill and aim for Rajya Sabha clearance after accepting the agreeable changes.

Even as BJP leaders exude confidence about their ability to build consensus and see the contentious legislation through, a certain amount of unease exists within the party and its ideological fountainhead — the RSS — over the “anti-farmer, pro-corporate” tagline the Narendra Modi government has earned in its first year in power.

Clearly, there are apprehensions over the government’s tough stance on the Bill backfiring in the forthcoming Assembly polls in critical states — especially Bihar and West Bengal.

Whether the government manages to get the legislation through Parliament or not, Opposition parties could use it to their advantage.

BJP leaders believe the farmer’s suicide at Jantar Mantar would prove to be the undoing of Aam Aadmi Party. Their party or the Congress cannot be held accountable for it. However, the public perception about the legislation and the challenge it presents before the government in Parliament is worrisome, they also agree.

The worry is that whether the Bill gets cleared or not, the opportunity would be used by Opposition parties. The tagline — “anti-farmer, pro-corporate” — will be played up if the government succeeds in getting the legislation cleared.