Land Bill impasse might isolate Cong, feels BJP

State specific laws could herald era of competitive federalism

Although the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had to beat a retreat with regard to the land acquisition Bill — which the Congress is all set to tout as the biggest defeat of the Narendra Modi government in 14 months — the saffron party believes it will have the last laugh.  

The BJP feels its stand on the land Bill issue, with some states now keen to enact their own land laws, will mark the beginning of an era of competitive federalism, where public expectations from each chief minister will increase and that will boost all-round infrastructure development, to give the common man access to better amenities.

Indications from the meeting of the joint parliamentary committee on the land Bill on Thursday — with four key bureaucrats absent — suggest the government is no longer hopeful of building a consensus on the issue and getting it passed in Parliament. There is little talk of a joint session any more. It also looks unlikely that the committee will be able to keep its schedule to give a report in the monsoon session. The government, it would seem, has capitulated to the diversity of India. However, party insiders caution against jumping to any conclusion that the land ordinance will not be issued for a fourth time and given a quiet burial.

They say the Congress, by boycotting Wednesday’s NITI Aayog meeting and opposing the land Bill, has played into Modi’s hands. This, according to them, would help the PM project Congress as anti-development at a time when a majority of India’s under-35 population is thirsting for development.


 

 

Party strategists are convinced that the issue, in the long run, will isolate the Congress among other non-Congress and non-National Democratic Alliance parties, which might oppose the Centre’s land Bill for political reasons but will enact their own land laws to encourage infrastructure projects. The BJP and its allies like the Lok Janshakti Party’s Ram Vilas Paswan believe the issue will not have any resonance in the coming Bihar elections.

The BJP’s confidence comes from positions taken by not only West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, stating that her government is working on an “alternative” state-specific land law, but also by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

According to senior government officials, the Odisha chief minister is keen to have a land law tailored to the needs of Odisha. Over 70,000 hectares have been acquired for different industries in the state over the last 10 years but no piece of land had been acquired after the 2013 Act came into force, an official said.