PM Narendra Modi reaches out to parties for passage of Land Bill

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, facing a doughty Opposition over the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill 2015, reached out to political parties on Friday saying the issue should not be made an ego clash and that he is open to changes in the proposed legislation in the interests of farmers.

Modi, who was replying to a debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address in the Lok Sabha, said, "If despite all the benefits that the new reforms will bring, you feel there is any provision that is anti-farmer, I am willing to make changes to the proposal. Let us work together."

Besides the Congress, which is miffed that the Ordinance has diluted the Land Acquisition Bill, passed during United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2013, almost all parties, including National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners like Shiv Sena, are against the executive order. The new Bill will replace the Ordinance, promulgated by the government on December 30 last year.

The PM targeted the Congress saying while the Bharatiya Janata Party supported the UPA's land takeover law, the Opposition party is not cooperating to accommodate the changes that are required now. "We were with you when you passed the Land Bill. We knew you were rushing through it eying political gains. If your law was so good, why was the Congress wiped out in a series of elections?" he asked.

Slamming the Congress further, Modi said that the NDA's proposed land reforms are urgently needed because for decades farmers had been denied rights under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, passed during the British rule.

"You allowed this," he said referring to the Congress adding that several chief ministers, including those of Congress, had expressed reservations against the UPA's land Act. "Are we so arrogant that we will ignore the concerns of our chief ministers though we are meant to strengthen and work with federalism?"

Seeking the Opposition's support in the passage of the Bill, which he claimed is in farmers' interests, Modi said, "If you feel there are still any shortcomings, I am ready for any changes in it... Don't make it an issue of your prestige." He said that there should be no ego and all parties should work together to correct the mistakes in the previous act. His expression of readiness to make changes in the proposed new Bill comes against the backdrop of opposition by some allies as well as opposition parties. The new Bill is aimed at amending the law passed over a year ago. Modi targeted the Congress' flagship rural job scheme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) as well.

"My political sense says never scrap MGNREGA. I will ensure that MGNREGA is never discontinued. It is the biggest example of your failings. After so many years of being in power, all you could deliver is that the poor had to dig ditches a few days a month. will publicise your failures with pomp," he said with sarcasm.