Govt’s tactical retreat or sensible compromise?

KV Prasad

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 30

The announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his government’s decision to allow the controversial ordinance on the land acquisition to lapse tomorrow provides the Opposition a psychological advantage as it scented success in its relentless campaign of the move being anti-farmer.

Within hours of PM Modi making his intent clear on the “Mann ki Baat” radio address, Opposition led by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in company of Janata leaders Nitish Kumar, Sharad Yadav and Lalu Prasad claimed the combined strength brought the “government on its knees”.

For the past one year, the Modi government did everything to push the amendments it made to the law enacted during the UPA-regime to replace the 19th century colonial land acquisition act.

After being blocked in the Rajya Sabha by a determined Opposition that enjoyed numerical superiority, the Modi government insisted it promulgating an ordinance incorporating the amendments it made to the 2013 law preferring to send a message of its unwillingness to concede ground to the opposition.

The Modi-government found little success in securing the mandatory ratification from Parliament necessitating re-promulgation twice.

The BJP parliamentary managers’ inability to get the Opposition on board led to yet another manoeuvre by referring the pending Bill to a Select Committee of the Lok Sabha where the ruling coalition enjoys clear majority.

The Opposition members’ pressure inside the committee as well as sagely advice by allies especially chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and Punjab Parkash Singh Badal led to a gradual change of stance what with some ministers indicating the government being amenable to constructive “suggestions’’ on the land Bill.

Yet, the final word is not said on the land bill per se. An amended version passed by the Lok Sabha earlier is in the Rajya Sabha, while another one in now with the Select Committee on which the government indicates flexibility.

Doubts lingered when Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi made a grandstanding statement that on the land Bill, the Opposition would make the government bend. In fact, he was quoted having said in the context of PM Modi’s 56-inch chest, on the land Bill; it would be reduced to 5.6 inches.

This statement could be dismissed as a political rhetoric or a boast by an aggressive opponent, but the larger message cannot be missed. The government moved to cut its losses.

Is it a case of tactical retreat in the face of staunch Opposition and in the backdrop of Bihar elections or a sensible compromise to break the parliamentary logjam that is becoming acute in successive sessions of Parliament?

An indication of things could come in government’s ability to have a special session on Goods and Service Tax Bill, another proposed legislation that has become a bone of contention between the government and the Opposition.