Land Bill: DMK join forces with Anna Hazare in protest against bill

CHENNAI: Joining forces with anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, DMK chief M Karunanidhi today said his party would be with him in protests against the "draconian" Land Bill in the "national interest."

The DMK chief who presided over a rally against the Bill here on March 20, in a letter to Hazare, said his "party's stout opposition to the Bill will continue till the last."

Replying to a letter of the social activist, who wanted DMK to protest against the Bill and force the Centre to start thinking about farmers, Karunanidhi recalled the rationale articulated by Hazare for opposing the Bill.

"You have raised six important points on the Bill which require very serious attention of all political parties in India," he said.

"As you have rightly described, the Bill passed in Parliament is really draconian," he added.

Absence of land survey since Independence, need for a law to prevent conveying fertile land for industrial activities, need to retain a clause enjoining farmers' consent for private and public private partnership projects were raised by Hazare.

The social activist had also said the provision to carry out a Social Impact Assessment as in the 2013 Land Act should stay like the farmers' consent clause, the DMK chief said.

Including private hospitals in the list of exemptions cannot be termed as being in the national interest, he said quoting Hazare.

Removing a provision that facilitates re-conveyance of unused acquired land was also highly objectionable.

Taking away a provision (in the Amendment Bill) that disallowed change of productive land with crops for use other than agriculture was also against national interest.

While DMK held state-wide protests against the Bill on March 20, AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa had said that her party voted for it in the Lok Sabha as it was in the national interest.