Away from the public eye, it is the government’s own which is now tearing apart the Land Acquisition Bill in the Joint Parliamentary Committee set to scrutinise the contentious piece of legislation.
After three RSS affiliates spoke out against the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill at a hearing on Monday, political activist and former leading spokesman of the Sangh Parivar K.N. Govindacharya on Tuesday said the proposed law went against the BJP’s manifesto, and would pauperise small and medium farmers.
He was so critical of the government that committee chairman S.S. Ahluwalia had to ask him to stick to airing his views on the Bill.
Committee members quoted Mr. Govindacharya as pointing out that the U.S. or even the Brazil model could not be applied here as the land-man ratio in those countries was very different from that in India.
Raju Shetti of the Swabhimani Paksha — an ally of the BJP at the Centre — also spoke out against the Bill. This did not come as a surprise as he had openly opposed it in the Lok Sabha during the Budget session.
