Sonia Gandhi Led Opposition Protesting Land Bill Urges President Mukherjee To Intervene In Farmers’ Interest
17 March ,New Delhi
Leaders of 14 Opposition parties and their members Tuesday marched from Parliament House to Rashtrapati Bhawan to protest against the NDA government’s Land Acquisition Bill.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi led the march, along with leaders of fourteen opposition parties including Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, DMK , JD (S) , Nationalist Congress Party and the Left parties. The MPs met the President Pranab Mukherjee and submitted a memorandum against the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) bill, 2015.
. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh also joined the protest.
Talking to media, Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi said they met the President and urged him to intervene to protect the interest of farmers and not to let the government go ahead with the bill the present form. It would badly hurt the interest of the farmers, she said .
She said all progressive, secular, democratic forces are determined to defeat the Narendra Modi government’s design to promote divisions and social disharmony.
She declared , the opposition is determined to defeat the government’s controversial land acquisition bil.
Gandhi said that “democratic, secular and forward looking forces are determined to defeat the (Narendra) Modi government’s designs” to promote corporate interests at the cost of farmers by taking away their land.
JD-U leader Sharad Yadav said Tuesday’s protest had brought together all the opposition forces that had got scattered since the Lok Sabha election catapulted the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party to power.
“This is a land of farmers. It is the farmers who have made this country self-sufficient in food. To snatch their land is a sin,” he said.
“This is the beginning of a major battle that will be waged in every nook and corner of the country,” he said.
The MPs converged at the Gandhi statue in the parliament complex from where they launched the march, raising slogans like “Kisan Virodhi, Narendra Modi (or anti-farmer Narendra Modi)”.
“This is a historic march. All parties are in it together and we hope the Modi government is watching this march,” Trinamool leader Derek O’Brien told reporters.