Tens of thousands of flag-waving farmers rallied in New Delhi yesterday to protest an Indian government plan to ease rules for obtaining land for industry and development projects.
Earlier, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told lawmakers from his Bharatiya Janata Party: “Lies are being spread on the land bill by perverted minds. Some people have decided not to speak, see or hear anything good about our government.”
In comments spoken in Hindi and broadcast widely on Indian TV, he said: “All decisions I am taking are for the welfare of the poor.”
Photo: Reuters
Critics are most upset about proposed changes eliminating the requirement of land owners’ approval for acquisitions sought for projects in defense, infrastructure, affordable housing or industrial corridors. The changes would also remove the need for assessing the social impact of such projects.
Restrictions on buying fertile agricultural land would be removed. Abuses by government employees, now answerable by law, would be exempt from prosecution unless ordered by the government.
Rights advocates, labor unions and many among India’s hundreds of millions of farmers say the changes effectively trample the rights of poor people. They accuse Modi of catering to corporate interests and worry changing the law will leave them vulnerable to poor compensation packages or forced relocation from ancestral lands.
“With the single-minded agenda of kneeling before the corporates ... this government has shown that it simply does not care for the poor and toiling people, for our land, agriculture and nature,” the National Alliance of People’s Movements said in a statement.
The opposition Indian National Congress party — in power when the 2013 law was passed — has seized on the issue as it struggles to repair its political image following its stunning election defeat last year to Modi and his party.
Gandhi family scion Rahul and his mother, party leader Sonia, addressed the rallying farmers at a protest park in central New Delhi on Sunday.
Rahul accused Modi of winning the election with funding from industrialists he now needs to pay back.
“How will he pay back the loan now? He will do it by giving your lands to those top industrialists,” Rahul Gandhi, speaking Hindi, told more than 50,000 farmers.
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