A day after BJP MPs walked out of a parliamentary panel meeting she was invited to, activist Medha Patkar on Wednesday hit back, asking if standing up for Dalits, Adivasis, farmers and labourers now counts as "anti-national".
A meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj to discuss the implementation of the land acquisition act ended abruptly on Tuesday as BJP MPs protested against the panel's decision to hear Patkar, who had led protests against raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat under the banner of ' Narmada Bachao Andolan'.
The panel, headed by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, had called Patkar to hear her views on the implementation and effectiveness of the land acquisition law enacted by Parliament when the Congress-led UPA government was in power in 2013.
Former Union minister and BJP MP Parshottam Rupala was joined by other lawmakers from his party as they walked out of the meeting, with some dubbing Patkar as "anti-national". A BJP MP even said he had no idea that leaders from Pakistan could also be called to such a meeting.
"What is the charge of being anti-national? We are working with Dalits, Adivasis, farmers, labourers... Is that something anti-national? To protect their rights under the law and the Constitution, and the human rights, which are above the constitutional rights," Patkar told PTI.
"And even if whatever we are saying is wrong, they can oppose it. But that doesn't mean that they can call us anti-national or 'urban naxals'. This democratic process includes the parliamentary standing committee proceedings," she added.
Patkar said she has participated in parliamentary panel discussions earlier and has been part of consultations carried out by the government for framing the Land Acquisition Act of 2013.
"Even when Sumitra Mahajan was in the Chair, we were given a good hearing," she said, referring to the former Lok Sabha Speaker and BJP leader.
Patkar said they were invited to appear before the panel, made their submissions, and all due process was followed.
She said she was informed that a communication was sent by the secretary general of the Lok Sabha to the chairperson -- Congress MP Ulaka -- to cancel the meeting due to a lack of quorum. The activist said she was told by officials that 17 MPs had come for the meeting, and questioned how there was a lack of quorum.
"The written letter that the secretary general gave to the chairman to cancel the meeting gave only one reason that there is no quorum. The fact that I was invited to appear was not mentioned as the reason," she said.
Former prime minister H D Devegowda's Janata Dal (Secular), which is a part of the BJP-led NDA, also participated in the meeting but not in the walkout, Patkar said.
"Mr. Devegowda, he did not walk out. He was just sitting quietly near the chairman," she said.
Talking about the Narmada Bachao Andolan, Patkar said they only demanded what was awarded by the Narmada Tribunal.
The Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (NWDT) was established in 1969 to resolve the water-sharing disputes among Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan concerning the Narmada River.
"They are mentioning the position taken by the Narmada Bachao Andolan. Our position has been that the award by the Narmada tribunal should be implemented," she said.
"Even the World Bank stopped funding this project (Sardar Sarovar Dam), saying that it was an ill-planned project. The statistics on which the decision is based the data is flawed. The World Bank took a position that they had not followed the law," she said.
The World Bank had agreed to fund the project to increase the height of the dam in 1985. However, following protests by the NBA led by Patkar, they formed the Morse Commission to look into factors like environmental cost and human displacement.
As the World Bank decided to pull out of the project, the government cancelled the loan sanctioned by the World Bank on 31 March 1993.
Patkar stressed that the rehabilitation of the families that were to be dislocated was important.
"There were thousands of families living in this area. How could they be denied fair and full rehabilitation? That was the question. Now, about 50,000 families have received rehabilitation. Whatever is remaining, a few thousand in Madhya Pradesh, hundreds in Maharashtra, hundreds in Gujarat, the dialogue is still going on," she said.
"We want the government to take immediate action and decision, but they are not doing it on war footing," she added.
A meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj to discuss the implementation of the land acquisition act ended abruptly on Tuesday as BJP MPs protested against the panel's decision to hear Patkar, who had led protests against raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat under the banner of ' Narmada Bachao Andolan'.
The panel, headed by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, had called Patkar to hear her views on the implementation and effectiveness of the land acquisition law enacted by Parliament when the Congress-led UPA government was in power in 2013.
Former Union minister and BJP MP Parshottam Rupala was joined by other lawmakers from his party as they walked out of the meeting, with some dubbing Patkar as "anti-national". A BJP MP even said he had no idea that leaders from Pakistan could also be called to such a meeting.
"What is the charge of being anti-national? We are working with Dalits, Adivasis, farmers, labourers... Is that something anti-national? To protect their rights under the law and the Constitution, and the human rights, which are above the constitutional rights," Patkar told PTI.
"And even if whatever we are saying is wrong, they can oppose it. But that doesn't mean that they can call us anti-national or 'urban naxals'. This democratic process includes the parliamentary standing committee proceedings," she added.
Patkar said she has participated in parliamentary panel discussions earlier and has been part of consultations carried out by the government for framing the Land Acquisition Act of 2013.
"Even when Sumitra Mahajan was in the Chair, we were given a good hearing," she said, referring to the former Lok Sabha Speaker and BJP leader.
Patkar said they were invited to appear before the panel, made their submissions, and all due process was followed.
She said she was informed that a communication was sent by the secretary general of the Lok Sabha to the chairperson -- Congress MP Ulaka -- to cancel the meeting due to a lack of quorum. The activist said she was told by officials that 17 MPs had come for the meeting, and questioned how there was a lack of quorum.
"The written letter that the secretary general gave to the chairman to cancel the meeting gave only one reason that there is no quorum. The fact that I was invited to appear was not mentioned as the reason," she said.
Former prime minister H D Devegowda's Janata Dal (Secular), which is a part of the BJP-led NDA, also participated in the meeting but not in the walkout, Patkar said.
"Mr. Devegowda, he did not walk out. He was just sitting quietly near the chairman," she said.
Talking about the Narmada Bachao Andolan, Patkar said they only demanded what was awarded by the Narmada Tribunal.
The Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (NWDT) was established in 1969 to resolve the water-sharing disputes among Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan concerning the Narmada River.
"They are mentioning the position taken by the Narmada Bachao Andolan. Our position has been that the award by the Narmada tribunal should be implemented," she said.
"Even the World Bank stopped funding this project (Sardar Sarovar Dam), saying that it was an ill-planned project. The statistics on which the decision is based the data is flawed. The World Bank took a position that they had not followed the law," she said.
The World Bank had agreed to fund the project to increase the height of the dam in 1985. However, following protests by the NBA led by Patkar, they formed the Morse Commission to look into factors like environmental cost and human displacement.
As the World Bank decided to pull out of the project, the government cancelled the loan sanctioned by the World Bank on 31 March 1993.
Patkar stressed that the rehabilitation of the families that were to be dislocated was important.
"There were thousands of families living in this area. How could they be denied fair and full rehabilitation? That was the question. Now, about 50,000 families have received rehabilitation. Whatever is remaining, a few thousand in Madhya Pradesh, hundreds in Maharashtra, hundreds in Gujarat, the dialogue is still going on," she said.
"We want the government to take immediate action and decision, but they are not doing it on war footing," she added.
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