Won't allow anti-farmer land ordinance to become law: Congress

New Delhi, Feb 25: Taking the fight against the NDA government's land acquisition ordinance to the street, the Congress Wednesday said it would not allow the "anti-farmer" ordinance to become a law. Participating in a well-attended protest programme at Jantar Mantar here, various Congress leaders said the land acquisition ordinance was "anti-farmer and anti-people". Senior Congress leader and former minister Jairam Ramesh said it was a 'Zamin Waapsi Aandolan' (taking land back movement) against the 'Ghar Waapsi' (coming back to one's old religious faith) government. "It took our government to prepare the Land Acquisition Act 2013 two years but the present government did not even take full two hours to change it," Ramesh said, who as minister was instrumental in bringing in the act after reviewing the 125-year British time law on the subject. The Modi government promulgated an ordinance in December 2014, bringing in changes to the 2013 Act. The opposition has accused the government of bringing in the ordinance to favour corporates in acquiring land. Accusing the Narendra Modi government of not caring for democratic norms on such an important matter, the Congress leader said the National Democratic Alliance government did not consult anybody before bringing in the ordinance. "Why did they have to do so? When they had already given their consent on the issue (the 2013 land act), why had they to bring in a new one which was not in the interest of the people," he said, addressing hundreds of farmers from areas adjoining the national capital and Congress party workers.