Opposition parties led by Congress President Sonia Gandhi marched to Rashtrapati Bhawan to submit a memorandum to the President against the Land Bill.
A united opposition of 14 parties strongly condemned the amendments made to the Land Acquisition Bill. Congress leaders Ambika Soni, Renuka Chaudhary, Jairam Ramesh and Shashi Tharoor walked along with the Congress President. CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, Derek O’Brien from TMC and Samajwadi Party’s Ram Gopal Yadav.
Before meeting the President, Sonia Gandhi addressed the media briefly.
14 different political parties have come together to defeat Modi government’s amendments to the right to fair compensation and transparency and rehabilitation. All progressive, secular parties are here to defeat Modi’s government attempt to promote divisions in the social family and to impress upon his government not to go ahead with the amendments in the Rajya Sabha.
-Sonia Gandhi AICC President
Members from rival parties like AIADMK, DMK, TMC came together to show support. 26 MPs will be allowed inside the Rashtrapati Bhawan to meet President Pranab Mukherjee.
The protest comes after the government failed to convince opposition leaders after several rounds of meetings.
Television reports claim that the government is now willing to re-think the amendments and that the introduction of the bill in Rajya Sabha could indeed be postponed. The ordinance will lapse on April 5.
The BJP has argued that the current version with all the amendment is indeed in the best interest of the farmers. It has also argued that the protest is a politically motivated campaign by the Congress party.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)