BJP MPs Walk Out Protesting Medha Patkar, Prakash Raj’s Presence At Parliamentary Panel Meeting

A parliamentary committee meeting to review the law of land acquisition was terminated after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs walked out in protest against the presence of activist Medha Patkar and actor-turned-activist Prakash Raj, reported The Hindu. The standing committee on Rural development headed by Congress leader Saptagiri Ulaka had invited the two to depose before the panel. 

The meeting had been convened to discuss the implementation and effectiveness of the “Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013”. It was meeting representatives from Rural Development, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, along with 10 other experts from civil society. 

The BJP MPs claimed that the committee’s chairman Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, a Congress MP from Odisha, did not inform the members about the witnesses and called upon “anti-nationals” and “urban Naxals” to depose. One of the MPs asserted that if people such as Patkar and Raj were being invited to depose before a parliamentary panel, next time they might as well invite the Pakistan PM, The Indian Express reported. 

Ulaka told The Hindu that the list was circulated in advance and due process was followed. 

“It is unfortunate that NDA members did not want to even listen to them. The standing committee reports are not binding on the government. And neither can the chairman force a report. The standing committees provide a platform to hear everyone. Stalling such interactions can be grievous to democracy,” he said.

The scheduled meeting would have been the 29th of the committee which has discussed matters like “Rural Employment through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)”, the “Status of Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA)”, and reviewed the progress made under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.