NEW DELHI: Faced with fierce attack on the land acquisition ordinance, government today said it was ready to deliberate on opposition suggestions and "go the extra mile" to prevent any injustice to farmers and to strengthen their hands.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu also said in Lok Sabha that the Ordinance was brought "in the need of emergency" as it was important to kick start the economy which was facing a "developmental holiday" in the last 10 years.
The Opposition --Congress, CPI(M), TMC and AAP-- staged a noisy walkout when the Minister claimed that the government does not want to bring Ordinances and accused Congress of having a bad track record on the issue of promulgating Ordinances as their governments had brought as many as 637 Ordinances in 62 years.
Targetting the Left parties and the Janta Parivar, Naidu said the United Front government had brought in 77 Ordinances. He was intervening in the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President for his address.
While staging the walkout, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge accused the Minister of "insulting" the opposition and assured him of a counter-attack when they have their say. Seeking to pacify those opposed to the controversial Ordinance, Naidu said: "If there are some lacunae and drawbacks in the land acquisition act, we are ready to deliberate on them. We are always ready to give patient hearing.
"We will not let any injustice happen to farmers. We are ready to go extra mile to strengthen the hands of farmers".
Naidu's remarks came a day after NDA's second most important constituent Shiv Sena opposed the controversial Ordinance, so also another constituent Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathana, amid fierce resistance from almost the entire Opposition.
Seeking to pacify those opposing the Ordinance, Naidu insisted that the land acquisition act was in the interest of the people and for their development. "All these years there has been a developmental holiday".