BJP to campaign for land bill as it will boost rural infrastructure, says Arun Jaitley

Bengaluru, April 4: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday that the land bill passed during the rule of the UPA government was "anti-farmer" and the BJP will campaign among people for the new land bill to explain its benefits.

Talking to the media on the second day of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national executive meeting here, Jaitley said that the party fully backed the initiatives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government.

He said that the new bill brought by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government will help boost rural infrastructure and added the proposed industrial corridors will provide jobs to all including the landless and the Dalits.

"There was a strong view in the party to campaign on these issues," he said.

Jaitley said that the 2013 Act turned out to be "anti-farmer" as it "prevents rural roads, housing in rural areas and rural electrification".

"The 2015 amendments seek to correct that."

He said that the "weakness" of 2013 Act came to the fore after its implementation. "It is then that the state governments realised where the shoe pinches," Jaitely said.

The new land bill has been passed with nine official amendments in the Lok Sabha but has not been passed in the Rajya Sabha where the Modi regime lacks a majority.

Apart from the Congress, several other opposition parties are firmly rallied against the controversial bill.

President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to the re-promulgation of the land ordinance as the previous ordinance is set to lapse April 5.

IANS