File Photo: Janata Dal (United) President Sharad Yadav (Press Trust of India)
Janata Dal (U) President Sharad Yadav, today, noted that NDA government's "controversial land acquisition bill" will be rejected by the opposition in Upper House of the Parliament.
"This bill (Land acquisition bill) is anti-farmer and we would ensure that the Narendra Modi government faces a defeat on this and the bill is not passed in Upper House of the Parliament where we have a majority," Mr Yadav told PTI in Jammu.
Accusing the Modi Government of being pro-industrialist, the lawmaker said that the bill was aimed at benefiting the industrialists and major corporations.
"From the day one this government was formed, it has been benefiting the industrialists, corporates and multinationals and now he (PM Modi) wants to snatch the land from farmers and give it to these industrialists but we won't let this happen," he said.
He said that when the parliament resumes in the next few days he would give his statement during the debate on the bill.
"Let the Prime Minister speak in the House after that we will have a debate on this (bill)" the Rajya Sabha member said.
Mr Yadav stated that opposition parties got united to make sure that these bills were not passed, but for the sake of the growth of the country the parties extended cooperation to the government.
"We extended cooperation for the sake of growth in the country albeit we were not satisfied with the clauses of the bills," he said, noting that while the opposition was against the Land Acquisition Bill, the government again promulgated it in the form of an ordinance.
"This bill is completely against agriculture and farmers on which 70 per cent of our population depends. I coordinated the march towards President's House from Parliament House to oppose this bill," he said.
He said that they were in favour of Land Acquisition Bill 2013 that was passed after due consultation with all the political parties including the BJP.
"The government is not worried about farmers or improvement of agriculture. They are busy in bringing down the fiscal deficit by pleasing big business houses.
"The contribution of agriculture to our GDP has been declining tremendously as it was once upon a time at 35 per cent of the GDP which has come down to only 13 per cent now," Mr Yadav said.