Land Bill: Police Lathicharge Congress Workers Protesting outside Parliament

The Delhi police on Monday used lathi charge and water cannons to disperse the crowd outside the Parliament as the Congress leaders staged a protest against the Modi government over the Land Acquisition Bill.

Led by senior leaders Jairam Ramesh, Raj Babbar, Randeep Surjewala and Youth Congress leader Amrinder Singh Raja Brar, Congress workers took out a protest march at Jantar Mantar raising slogans like 'Kisan Virodhi Narendra Modi' (farmers' opponent Modi).

"(Our) fight will go on, both in the Parliament and outside against the amendments. We will keep fighting against it," PTI quoted Ramesh as telling the reporters.

"We are completely against the amendments. In the (proposed) law, farmers don't have the right to take decision regarding their own land. Even if I take a mere pen from you, I will ask you. Then how is a farmer, for whom the land is his mother, being asked to hand it over to someone else (without consent)?" Babbar said.

The BJP-led government introduced the amended Land Acquisition Bill that no more contains the clause that made it mandatory for the occupant of the land to take consent from the owner of the land before starting a project.

The Bill for amendments proposed to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, has been passed in the Lok Sabha and now it wait for the approval in the Rajya Sabha where BJP is in minority.