Farmers’ march: Anti-Modi rhetoric gains momentum

On the second day of the farmers’ march against the NDA government’s land acquisition ordinance, the rhetoric is increasingly along the lines of poet and academician Ramdhari Singh Dinkar’s couplet made famous by Jayaprakash Narayan in 1977 — “Singhasan Khaali Karo Ke Janata Aaati Hai (Vacate the throne, for the people are coming)”. Only “king” has been replaced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Even the lyrics of the songs being sung to keep marchers’ morale high have been spun around Modi.

There is a very heavy presence of women in the 5,000 marching to Delhi to assemble at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday. Kallan, from Delipani village of UP, proudly explains the heavy presence of women. “You see, men are scared of police. They flee at the first sign of trouble. We do not. Take us anywhere — to the police station, to the court anywhere, we will go… We will only go home when we get out patta (land documents),” she said.

For a brief while, the march was also joined by Swami Agnivesh who addressed the farmers.

No plans to change land ordinance: Govt

The government has said it had no plans to change the ordinance it had brought in December while placing it before Parliament for approval. Government sources said on Saturday that Parliament’s approval to the ordinance, which was brought in to amend the Land Acquisition Act of 2013, would be sought within a week of the Budget Session starting on Monday. Meanwhile, three Union ministers — Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Birender Singh — met farmer leaders Yudhvir Singh of Bhartiya Kisan Union, Krishan Bir Chaudhary of the Bhartiya Krishak Samaj and Punit Thind of the Rashtriya Kisan Sangathan.    (ENS)