Protesting against NDA government’s Land Acquisition Ordinance at Jantar Mantar on Monday, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel took a jibe at PM Narendra Modi, saying farmers can reduce his 56-inch chest into 28 inch.
Speaking at the protest carried out by the Youth Congress, Patel said, “Youth and farmers will break your arrogance. Your 56-inch chest will be reduced to 28 inch.”
He further added, “Whether it’s Bardoli or Champaran, Congress has always carried out a movement for farmers. Today, farmers’ plight is such that they are left with no option but to commit suicide.”
During a rally at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh prior to 2014 General Elections, Modi, while targeting Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, had said that it takes 56-inch chest to convert UP into Gujarat.
Raising slogans of ‘Kisan Virodhi Narendra Modi (farmers’ opponent Modi)’ against the Prime Minister, other Congress leaders including Jairam Ramesh, Raj Babbar, Randeep Surjewala and Youth Congress’s Amrinder Singh Raja Brar also condemned the Land Bill.
The foot march began on Friday from Bhatta-Parsaul village in Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida district and reached Rajghat here last night.
After being passed in Lok Sabha, the Bill for amendments proposed to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, will be presented in Rajya Sabha for approval.
“(Our) fight will go on, both in the Parliament and outside against the amendments. We will keep fighting against it,” Ramesh told reporters here.
Babbar expressed surprise at the government’s move to “do away” with the consent clause in the bill.
“We are completely against the amendments. In (proposed) law, farmers don’t have the right to take decision regarding their own land. Even if I take a mere pen from you, I will ask you. Then how come, a farmer, for whom land is his mother, is being asked to hand it over to someone else (without consent)?” he questioned.
Surjewala said the agitation launched by Congress along with farmers will “unmask the Modi-led Centre’s ‘anti-farmer’ stand”.
“This is India Youth Congress’s (IYC) rally from Bhatta-Parsaul to Parliament. Modi’s black law will disappear. BJP’s anti-farmer face will be unmasked. Both the Congress and farmers will win,” he said.
