Having publicly declared that its position on the land acquisition bill is non-negotiable, the Congress is banking on organisations and individuals associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to derail the government during Monday’s joint committee of Parliament scrutinising the controversial legislation.
The committee’s meeting next week could prove difficult for the National Democratic Alliance government as two RSS bodies ‒ the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram ‒ are slated to depose before the panel. Other names on the schedule are former Bharatiya Janata Party ideologue KN Govindacharya, and activists Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan.
Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh, who is also a member of the parliamentary panel, is said to have persuaded the representatives of the RSS organisations to place their views before the committee.
Seeking flaws
The Congress is depending on them to find sufficient flaws in the bill to make it difficult for the committee chairman and BJP MP SS Ahluwalia to push through the government’s version of the legislation.
BJP president Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley have met representatives of the two RSS affiliates to try to persuade them to support the government. But this hasn't stopped the groups speaking out against the amended version of the bill.
The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram want the clause requiring the consent of landholders to be retained in the bill though they are willing to reduce the percentage of owners whose approval has to be obtained to be pegged at 51%, compared to 80% in the original legislation.
Although the Congress is firm on its opposition to the bill, its members on the parliamentary committee have deliberately chosen to keep silent during its proceedings. It has left it to the two feisty Trinamool Congress MPs, Kalyan Bannerjee and Derek O’Brien, to battle it out. The committee meeting has been witnessing sharp exchanges between the Trinamool members and Ahluwalia. The three often end up arguing in Bengali, much to the amusement of the others.
Another surprise
While the critique made by the Trinamool Congress members is on expected lines as their opposition to the bill is well-known, the questioning by the BJP members has come as a surprise. The ruling party members have sought clarifications on the provisions in the bill allowing for an industrial corridor along highways, the implications of doing away with social impact assessment and the deletion of the clause that allowed farmers to reclaim their acquired land after five years if it was not used for the purpose for which it had been acquired.
Ruling party MPs have been privately expressing their concern over the adverse political fall-out of amending the land bill as it has sent out a message that the Modi government is anti-farmer and pro-Big Business.
Their line of questioning has undoubtedly emboldened the opposition, which has got a further shot in the arm from the 400 representations received by the committee. According to a member, 398 of these have raised strong objections to the amended land bill.
“At present, we are only listening and watching," said a Congress member. "We will give our opinion at an appropriate time.”
Rough weather
If the government is facing rough weather in the committee, it is going to be far worse in next month’s monsoon session of Parliament. The land bill and the Goods and Services Tax bill are set to fall by the wayside as the Congress has declared that it will not allow the session to function if External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje are not asked to step down following their involvement in the Lalit Modi controversy.
They have been accused of helping the fugitive businessman to acquire UK travel documents even though his passport was revoked by Indian authorities.
“If the government wants to save the monsoon session, it should ask Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje to resign,” former Union minister Jairam Ramesh declared on Friday. The demand was summarily rejected by the BJP, which said there was no wrongdoing and that the two leaders will not be asked to resign.
Another pet legislation of the Modi government is also likely to run into a storm. The Congress has raised objections to specific provisions in the goods and services bill, which is also being scrutinised by a select committee of Parliament.
Several shortcomings
The Congress position was firmed up at last month’s meeting of its chief ministers, when former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh articulated the party’s position on this legislation. He pointed out that the BJP-led government’s version of the bill had several shortcomings and the state governments could lose revenues if the legislation was passed in its present form.
“I am not sure that the legislation we are presently considering is the best route forward,” Singh said in his address at the conference. “It helps neither the Centre nor the states, a majority of them.”
A former Congress minister said that the party isn’t objecting to the goods and services tax in principle, but it is opposed to the bill “in its present form”.
With the Congress adopting a tough stand on the two legislations and its continuing offensive on the Lalit Modi revelations, it is clear that the Modi government is in for troubled times in Parliament.
The committee’s meeting next week could prove difficult for the National Democratic Alliance government as two RSS bodies ‒ the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram ‒ are slated to depose before the panel. Other names on the schedule are former Bharatiya Janata Party ideologue KN Govindacharya, and activists Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan.
Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh, who is also a member of the parliamentary panel, is said to have persuaded the representatives of the RSS organisations to place their views before the committee.
Seeking flaws
The Congress is depending on them to find sufficient flaws in the bill to make it difficult for the committee chairman and BJP MP SS Ahluwalia to push through the government’s version of the legislation.
BJP president Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley have met representatives of the two RSS affiliates to try to persuade them to support the government. But this hasn't stopped the groups speaking out against the amended version of the bill.
The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram want the clause requiring the consent of landholders to be retained in the bill though they are willing to reduce the percentage of owners whose approval has to be obtained to be pegged at 51%, compared to 80% in the original legislation.
Although the Congress is firm on its opposition to the bill, its members on the parliamentary committee have deliberately chosen to keep silent during its proceedings. It has left it to the two feisty Trinamool Congress MPs, Kalyan Bannerjee and Derek O’Brien, to battle it out. The committee meeting has been witnessing sharp exchanges between the Trinamool members and Ahluwalia. The three often end up arguing in Bengali, much to the amusement of the others.
Another surprise
While the critique made by the Trinamool Congress members is on expected lines as their opposition to the bill is well-known, the questioning by the BJP members has come as a surprise. The ruling party members have sought clarifications on the provisions in the bill allowing for an industrial corridor along highways, the implications of doing away with social impact assessment and the deletion of the clause that allowed farmers to reclaim their acquired land after five years if it was not used for the purpose for which it had been acquired.
Ruling party MPs have been privately expressing their concern over the adverse political fall-out of amending the land bill as it has sent out a message that the Modi government is anti-farmer and pro-Big Business.
Their line of questioning has undoubtedly emboldened the opposition, which has got a further shot in the arm from the 400 representations received by the committee. According to a member, 398 of these have raised strong objections to the amended land bill.
“At present, we are only listening and watching," said a Congress member. "We will give our opinion at an appropriate time.”
Rough weather
If the government is facing rough weather in the committee, it is going to be far worse in next month’s monsoon session of Parliament. The land bill and the Goods and Services Tax bill are set to fall by the wayside as the Congress has declared that it will not allow the session to function if External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje are not asked to step down following their involvement in the Lalit Modi controversy.
They have been accused of helping the fugitive businessman to acquire UK travel documents even though his passport was revoked by Indian authorities.
“If the government wants to save the monsoon session, it should ask Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje to resign,” former Union minister Jairam Ramesh declared on Friday. The demand was summarily rejected by the BJP, which said there was no wrongdoing and that the two leaders will not be asked to resign.
Another pet legislation of the Modi government is also likely to run into a storm. The Congress has raised objections to specific provisions in the goods and services bill, which is also being scrutinised by a select committee of Parliament.
Several shortcomings
The Congress position was firmed up at last month’s meeting of its chief ministers, when former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh articulated the party’s position on this legislation. He pointed out that the BJP-led government’s version of the bill had several shortcomings and the state governments could lose revenues if the legislation was passed in its present form.
“I am not sure that the legislation we are presently considering is the best route forward,” Singh said in his address at the conference. “It helps neither the Centre nor the states, a majority of them.”
A former Congress minister said that the party isn’t objecting to the goods and services tax in principle, but it is opposed to the bill “in its present form”.
With the Congress adopting a tough stand on the two legislations and its continuing offensive on the Lalit Modi revelations, it is clear that the Modi government is in for troubled times in Parliament.
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