SP govt, BSP may lock horns over ordinance
LUCKNOW : If promulgated by governor Ram Naik, the Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code (Amendment) Ordinance-2015 may lead to a fresh confrontation between the Samajwadi Party (SP) government and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh.
The draft ordinance approved by the state cabinet on November 9 has a provision to ease the process of selling small pieces of dalits’ land to non-dalits. This is the bone of contention between the SP government and the BSP, for which dalits form its core vote bank.
Overall, the draft ordinance provides for an amendment to the UP Revenue Code-2006 to simplify the revenue laws.
“We will soon send the draft ordinance to Raj Bhawan to seek governor Ram Naik’s nod. The ordinance has been moved to ease and consolidate different (39) revenue laws,” said chief secretary Alok Ranjan.
Despite the state government’s assertions that the ordinance is being brought only to simplify the revenue laws, the BSP is not convinced. “We will oppose the ordinance that reflects the antidalit mentality of the Samajwadi Party government. It wants to deprive the dalits of their small piece of land and make them landless,” said senior BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya on the telephone. Maurya is the leader of opposition in the Uttar Pradesh assembly.
This is not the first time that the BSP has decided to oppose a new legislation being moved by the state government.
The BSP has a majority in the Vidhan Parishad, the upper house of the state legislature. The party had not allowed passage of the UP Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms (Amendment) Bill 2015. That bill also provided for easing the process of selling small pieces of land of scheduled castes to non-dalits.
“We will not allow the state government to get a bill (replacing the ordinance) passed in both the houses of state legislature. The Samajwadi Party (SP) government has shown its anti-dalit mentality yet again. It had adopted an anti-dalit stance on the reservation in promotion issue as well,” said Maurya.