Mohan Lal Verma
Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee on Thursday took a strong notice pf Kangra MP and senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar for accusing Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for opposing Land Acquisition Bill for the sake of opposition and also accused him of adopting double standards on farmers issues.
Rebutting Shanta Kumar’s accusations, State Congress Chief Spokesperson Naresh Chauhan said that previous Congress led UPA government had passed Land Acquisition Act to protect the interests of farmers in the country after developing consensus among all stakeholders and political parties.
“At the time of passing of the Act, BJP was the main opposition party and Shanta Kumar was also a MP at that time, and all the parties had given consent for the same. But, the motives behind BJP repealing the Act remains unclear,” Chauhan said.
He termed the Land Acquisition Bill that is being brought by BJP government as anti-farmer and said that the Bill would only benefit the industrialists and corporate.
“BJP has unanimously supported Right to Fair Compensation Act, 2013 that was part of Land Acquisition Act inside and outside Parliament but now Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is planning to nullify the same law after coming to power even before it could be implemented,” he said.
State Congress Chief Spokesperson said that Rahul Gandhi had started working for the interests of the farmers when he saw their plight and noticed that they were not getting adequate compensation for the land acquired from them.
“After this, Rahul Gandhi took up their cause and got loans worth Rupees 70,000 crore for farmers across the country which were waived off by the Congress led government” he said.
He said that farmers are not a political issue for Rahul Gandhi as he had advocated their cause in the past and he would continue to do so in future also.
“Rahul Gandhi has assured the farming community to protect their interests and he would take the fight against anti-farmer policies of BJP led government to its logical conclusion,” he said.
Chauhan questioned Shanta Kumar as to what was the need for making changes in Land Acquisition Act that was once supported by him and other leaders of the party and asked him to explain his party’s stand on the issue.
“BJP seems to be on the back foot on the issue which was the reason that BJP leaders are making such baseless statements” he added.
