Medha Patkar slams BJP MPs over walkout from parliamentary panel meeting

A day after BJP Members of Parliament MP staged a walkout from a parliamentary panel meeting to which she was invited activist Medha Patkar on Wednesday hit back questioning whether supporting Dalits Adivasis farmers and labourers is now considered ldquoantinationalrdquoThe meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj mdash convened to discuss the implementation of the Land Acquisition Act mdash was abruptly adjourned on Tuesday after BJP MPs objected to Patkarrsquos presence reported PTI Patkar had previously led protests against increasing the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat under the banner of the Narmada Bachao AndolanThe committee chaired by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka had invited Patkar to present her views on the implementation and effectiveness of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act which was passed during the United Progressive Alliance UPA governmentrsquos tenureHowever former Union Minister and BJP MP Parshottam Rupala along with other BJP lawmakers walked out of the meeting with some branding Patkar ldquoantinationalrdquo A BJP MP even said he had no idea that leaders from Pakistan could also be called to such a meeting reported PTIldquoWhat is the charge of being antinational We are working with Dalits Adivasis farmers labourers Is that something antinational To protect their rights under the law and the Constitution and the human rights which are above the constitutional rightsrdquo Patkar told PTIldquoAnd even if whatever we are saying is wrong they can oppose it But that doesnt mean that they can call us antinational or urban naxals This democratic process includes the parliamentary standing committee proceedingsrdquo she addedThe activist noted that she had previously participated in parliamentary panel discussions and had been involved in consultations when the Land Acquisition Act of 2013 was being draftedldquoEven when Sumitra Mahajan was in the Chair we were given a good hearingrdquo she said referring to the former Lok Sabha Speaker and BJP leaderShe maintained that her appearance before the panel was in accordance with due procedurePatkar said she was informed that a communication from the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha had been sent to the Chair mdashUlaka mdash requesting cancellation of the meeting owing to lack of quorumHowever she questioned this reasoning saying officials told her that 17 MPs were presentldquoThe written letter that the secretary general gave to the chairman to cancel the meeting gave only one reason mdash that there is no quorum The fact that I was invited to appear was not mentioned as the reasonrdquo she saidPatkar also pointed out that former Prime Minister HD Devegowdas Janata Dal Secular a constituent of the BJPled National Democratic Alliance NDA participated in the meeting and did not join the walkoutldquoMr Devegowda he did not walk out He was just sitting quietly near the chairmanrdquo she saidReflecting on the Narmada Bachao Andolan Patkar said their demands were based on the award passed by the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal NWDT which was constituted in 1969 to adjudicate watersharing disputes among Gujarat Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra and RajasthanldquoThey are mentioning the position taken by the Narmada Bachao Andolan Our position has been that the award by the Narmada tribunal should be implementedrdquo she saidldquoEven the World Bank stopped funding this project Sardar Sarovar Dam saying that it was an illplanned project The statistics on which the decision is based mdash the data is flawed The World Bank took a position that they had not followed the lawrdquo she addedThe World Bank had agreed to fund the project in 1985 but after sustained protests by NBA it set up the Morse Commission to assess the environmental impact and human displacement caused by the dam The Bank ultimately withdrew its support and the Indian government cancelled the loan on March 31 1993Patkar also underlined the importance of proper rehabilitation for displaced familiesldquoThere were thousands of families living in this area How could they be denied fair and full rehabilitation That was the question Now about 50000 families have received rehabilitation Whatever is remaining mdash a few thousand in Madhya Pradesh hundreds in Maharashtra hundreds in Gujarat mdash the dialogue is still going onrdquo she saidldquoWe want the government to take immediate action and decision but they are not doing it on war footingrdquo she addedWith PTI inputs