Nazul land bill against public and party’s interest: U.P. BJP chief
Passed by the state assembly on Wednesday, the bill was referred to a select committee in the U.P. Legislative Council on Thursday amid a political controversy.
Amid a political row over the Nazul land bill, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary on Friday said the proposed law not only had the potential of acting against the interest of the party, but could also create an anarchic situation in cities, harming the public interest at large.
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He made the comment a day after the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) referred the Nazul land bill already passed by the Vidhan Sabha (state assembly) to its select committee, something that has not happened to any legislation since the BJP came to power in the state in 2017.
The bill empowers the state to reclaim Nazul properties (government properties), which have been leased out to private individuals and entities, for public use and development activities.
The legislation appears to have come as a major embarrassment to the BJP when is still grappling with the post-Lok Sabha poll scenario in the state where its performance was less than expected.
The Yogi government had passed the bill in the assembly after getting it approved by the Cabinet.
However, this bill was stalled in the Upper House on Friday after Chaudhary, who is also a member of the Vidhan Parishad, opposed the bill and demanded that it be referred to the select committee for wider discussions.
“I opposed the bill after I received the feedback from our MLAs, mostly those from cities, that any such unpopular law at this juncture could harm the interests of the party,” Chaudhary said to HT.
“Besides, the government’s move to get the Nazul land, over which buildings have been standing for decades vacated now following the enactment of the law could have led to chaos in cities. On the one hand, the government is building houses for people, on the other hand the same government will be demolishing houses built on the Nazul land,” he added.
Chaudhary claimed that the demand for the bill being referred to the select committee was made with the consent of the chief minister and both the deputy chief ministers.
Voices against the Uttar Pradesh Nazul Properties (Management and Utilization for Public Purposes) Bill, 2024, have been raised not only by the opposition Samajwadi Party and Congress, but also from within the BJP and its allies.
BJP MLAs Sidharth Nath Singh, Harshvardhan Bajpai and Kunda MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh were among those who had opposed the bill.
“It is for you to interpret it as an embarrassment or otherwise, but what has happened is procedural. After Wednesday’s developments in the assembly over the bill, it was the government that chose to send the bill to the select committee,” said Sidharth Nath Singh, the BJP’s Allahabad West MLA and former Uttar Pradesh minister, about the bill being referred to the select committee.
The bill replaces Uttar Pradesh Nazul Properties (Management and Utilization For Public Purposes) Ordinance, 2024 promulgated in March this year.
When asked why those who objected to the bill in the assembly, did not speak up after the ordinance was promulgated, Sidharth Nath Singh said: “It happens. People often do not read ordinances. The ordinance came and then the bill was listed for the session (Monsoon session). And people discussed it. There’s nothing abnormal in it. The members (MLAs) expressed their concerns. The bill was passed by the assembly (on Wednesday) but the government paid attention to the voices.”
Several MLAs met chief minister Yogi Adityanath after the bill was passed by the assembly on Wednesday.
Talking about the timeline, Singh said: “On Thursday noon, the chief minister called a meeting at his office in Vidhan Sabha where both the deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak were present and also BJP state president Bhupendra Chaudhary was present. There a consensus was reached that when the bill would be tabled by Keshav Prasad Maurya in the Legislative Council, Bhupendra Chaudhary would propose that it be sent to a Select Committee.”
On Thursday, the 100-member council, in which the BJP holds a 79-member majority, passed all other bills, including one to add more teeth to the state anti-conversion law and another to establish a state capital region, but unanimously decided to send the Uttar Pradesh Nazul Properties (Management and Utilization for Public Purposes) Bill, 2024 to the select committee.
After Keshav Prasad Maurya tabled the Nazul land bill, Bhupendra Chaudhary instantly pleaded with chairman Kunwar Manvendra Singh to refer it to a select committee. Manvendra Singh referred it to the committee, giving it two months.
Samajwadi Party MLAs RK Verma, Sandeep Singh, and Kamal Akhtar made a scathing attack on the government by calling the bill “draconian and autocratic”.
Nishad party MLA (a BJP ally) Anil Kumar Tripathi called it “anti-people”, while Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) chief Raghuraj Pratap Singh (the party that had supported the BJP in Presidential polls, the Rajya Sabha elections, and UP legislative council polls) also emphatically objected, so did Congress MLA Aradhana Mishra Mona.
Most of the BJP allies are asking for amendments. The Apna Dal (Sonelal), a BJP ally both at the Centre and the state, called the bill “unnecessary”.
Apna Dal (S) chief and Union minister Anupriya Patel, in a post in Hindi on X, said: “The Nazul property bill has been sent to the Select Committee for consideration. But my clear view is that the bill, which was brought in without an extensive consultation, is not only unnecessary but also against the public sentiments. The U.P. government should withdraw it immediately and take strict action against those officers who misled the government.”
Nishad party chief and U.P. fisheries minister Sanjay Nishad has demanded amendments in the bill while Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief and U.P. minister Om Prakash Rajbhar also sought amendments, adding that the poor people living on Nazul land be given ownership rights.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav called it a bill for “destruction of homes.”
“…BJP is against those with houses, families...the BJP will render poor the homeless to benefit land mafias...The inhuman Nazul land bill must be withdrawn,” Yadav said.