Modi regime only focussing on a few industrialists, ignoring farmers, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday again accused the NDA regime at the Centre of favouring a few industrialists and ignoring farmers, some of whom had committed suicide because of their inability to clear their debts or due to crop failure.

Interacting with the families of farmers who had committed suicide and other farming community representatives in Bargarh, Odisha, Gandhi said, "The families of farmers who committed suicide are being ignored by the Government of India, which is focussing only on a few industrialists."

Gandhi also described the Land Reorganisation Bill being introduced in Parliament by the ruling NDA as "anti-farmer".

He pointedly told farmers here how the Congress has not allowed the passage of the bill in the Rajya Sabha.

Land acquisition in India is governed by the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 and which came into force from January 1, 2014.

Till 2013, land acquisition in India was governed by Land Acquisition Act of 1894. On December 31, 2014, President Pranab Mukherjee promulgated an ordinance with an official mandate to "meet the twin objectives of farmer welfare; along with expeditiously meeting the strategic and developmental needs of the country".

An amendment bill was then introduced in Parliament to endorse the Ordinance. The Lok Sabha passed the bill, but the same is still lying for passage by the Rajya Sabha.