DMK to protest, AIADMK defends decision to support land bill

DMK president M. Karunanidhi said on Friday that his party would protest across Tamil Nadu on March 20 against the NDA government's attempt to pass the land bill in parliament despite opposition while the ruling AIADMK said it would support the legislation.

Karunanidhi said the land bill has provisions to snatch away the rights of farmers while helping multi-national companies.

Though the allies of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had initially opposed the bill, they later voted in its favour in the Lok Sabha, he said.

The AIADMK which also opposed the amendment bill initially, later supported the same for unknown reasons, Karunanidhi said.

He said the party would also hold protest demanding a probe by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the suicide of an engineer in the agricultural department last month.

Meanwhile defending her party's decision to support the land bill in parliament, AIADMK general secretary J.Jayalalithaa said the central government had incorporated the amendments proposed by her party in the bill.

Jayalalithaa said she feels the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi must have brought the amendments to the land bill with a belief that state government should also be partners in the nation's growth.

She said the AIADMK government will not allow any projects that impacts the farmers in Tamil Nadu and cited the decision not to allow foreign investment in retail and the ban on genetically modified crops.

Jayalalithaa faulted the earlier DMK government that enacted a law for faster acquisition of lands for industrial purposes.