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HomeNationSonia Gandhi Leads Opposition March to Rashtrapati Bhawan Against Land Bill

Sonia Gandhi Leads Opposition March to Rashtrapati Bhawan Against Land Bill

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Congress president Sonia Gandhi walked briskly flanked and followed by about 100 lawmakers as she led a march from Parliament House to the Rashtrapati Bhawan less than a kilometre away, in protest against land reforms crucial to the government’s economic agenda.

Sonia Gandhi is protected by the elite SPG and there were layers of security as the lawmakers marched. The route was cleared of all vehicular traffic and there was massive deployment of police.

In a big show of opposition unity, the delegation, which raised slogans at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, will hand over to President Pranab Mukherjee, a memorandum against the land acquisition bill which was passed last week in the Lok Sabha where the government has a brute majority.

In the Rajya Sabha or upper house, however, the opposition is in majority. The Congress, which helped pass the Insurance Bill in the Rajya Sabha, has refused to back the land bill, saying it will only support the 2013 version of the bill that its government passed with a broad consensus of all parties, including the BJP. The present bill, the Congress argues, must be sent to a parliamentary committee for review.

It has rallied around it other parties like the Janata Dal (United), the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Left Front, the DMK and the Trinamool Congress, whose MPs marched with Mrs Gandhi today, some wearing placards that read, “Down with anti-farmer bill.”

The government must pass the bill in both houses of parliament soon; the ordinance or emergency executive order that it seeks ratify will lapse on April 5.

Yesterday, the government intervened to allow the opposition protest march after the Delhi police declared that the lawmakers could not collect at Parliament House as the area is under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which prohibits the assembly of more than four persons, when Parliament is in session.

A letter from the Delhi Police said under the circumstances, “it is requested that the Honourable members of Parliament may be advised not to proceed to R.P. Bhavan.”

Home Secretary Anil Goswami, however, clarified that the march requires no permission as lawmakers can visit the President’s House by any mode of transport that they prefer, including on foot.

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