BJP vows to take opposition head on over land acquisition bill

Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to his supporters after addressing a rally organized by BJP, in Bangalore, India, Friday, April 3, 2015. (Source: AP)

With the land bill emerging as a common anti-government plank for the opposition, BJP on Saturday vowed to take on the “disinformation campaign” being run by the Congress and other parties by reaching out to farmers in every village and explaining to them all aspects of the bill.

The controversial bill was discussed in detail on the concluding day of the two-day National Executive meeting and formed a part of the party’s political resolution adopted there.

An elaborate power-point presentation on the issue was made at the meet and a booklet titled ‘Information to Counter Disinformation (placing facts before the people)’ was released as the party sought to rally its cadre around in support of the bill which is pending in Parliament.

“We will not allow the disinformation campaign which is baseless…The disinformation campaign by the opposition will be met with…The party will reveal the facts at every village and tell people that we have come with a law that is in favour of farmers and people.

“All party members would be going out to explain the public on the contents of the land bill. The intention of the government is to help farmers,” Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters.

Asked if national executive members expressed concern over any aspect of the bill, she said “chinta (concern), if there is any, is about the disinformation campaign”.

She said the party will engage with allies like Shiv Sena and SAD, which have expressed serious reservations, and added that the party’s intention was to take everybody on aboard and not to hurt anyone.

“When we are willing to engage with the opposition then why would not we engage with our own allies,” she said.

Attacking the opposition, Sitharaman said they have failed to come out with any specific objection over the bill and accused them of opposing it for the sake of opposing.

Taking a dig at Congress, she charged that the UPA regime had allocated coal blocks to its “favourites” and questioned where its Social Impact Assessment was then.

“We are willing to discuss with anyone if there is anything anti-farmer. We feel we don’t have any anti-farmer points,” Sitharaman said.

The political resolution was moved by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and seconded by Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who has been a key party pointsman on the bill.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made concluding remarks on the resolution.

Source:: Indian Express