Government's stand on land ordinance "cruel joke" on farmers: Sitaram Yechury

NEW DELHI: The CPI(M) today hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for deciding to allow the controversial land acquisition ordinance to lapse tomorrow, asking why the government promulgated the measure thrice earlier and termed it as a "cruel joke" on farmers.

"This is a cruel joke on the farmers. .... If the government is now allowing this ordinance to lapse, then why did they go for promulgating it thrice in an unprecedented manner," CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said while reacting to Modi's announcement in the 'Mann ki Baat' radio programme.

The decision to allow the land ordinance to lapse is "clearly a result of the popular people's protests against this move by the government which forced Prime Minister Modi to succumb," he told PTI.

Referring to Modi's statement that the 13 aspects in the ordinance would be included through the rules, he said the Prime Minister's promise to provide direct monetary benefit to farmers is "a complete hoax and the government's policy towards agriculture and the farmers remains cruel."

Yechury said while on the one hand, Modi has announced the decision to lapse, "why is Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saying that the final word on the ordinance will be known only on Monday.

"The right hand does not know what the left hand is doing in this government. This is a mockery of the promise of good governance. Modi owes an explanation to the country over this fiasco," the CPI(M) leader said.