New Delhi: Hailing the Centre's decision to bring 13 laws under the Land Acquisition Act, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called it a "pro-farmer" measure and insisted that its government will work to get the proposed land Bill passed in Parliament.
Calling the land law passed by the previous UPA regime "full of errors", BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday said that almost all state governments are against it.
He added that the ordinance brought in by the Modi government dealt with these issues but opposition parties "misled and scared" the farmers with respect to the proposed changes in the law.
In an apparent attack on Congress and Left, he said that some political parties are doing politics over the issue and it will be BJP's attempt to have the NDA Bill passed in Parliament after developing a consensus on its measures.
Referring to the government's decision of bringing 13 laws under the Act, Shah said, "This is a step taken for the welfare of farmers and I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this. The NDA government is dedicated to the poor and the farmers."
He added that, due to the government's decision, farmers will get four times more compensation in rural areas and two times more in urban areas and also get rehabilitation benefits.
Faced with stiff resistance, Modi on Sunday announced that the government will not re-promulgate the controversial Ordinance on Land Acquisition which expires on Monday and declared a readiness to incorporate any suggestion in the Bill, pending in Rajya Sabha, which was of benefit to farmers.
Apparently referring to the political opponents, he said a lot of doubts had been created over the land Bill and fear instilled among farmers even though the states had suggested amendments to the Act of 2013 for the benefit of villages and villagers.
The government had issued the Ordinance thrice so far as the land Bill could not be passed in Parliament due to stiff resistance by most opposition parties as well as some allies of the ruling NDA.
