Why are Prayagraj's MLAs opposing the Nazul bill? Yogi government is on the defensive

Uttar Pradesh Politics: The Yogi government of Uttar Pradesh may have succeeded in getting the Nazul Land Bill 2024 passed from the Legislative Assembly, but it has been stalled in the Legislative Council due to strong opposition from BJP state president Bhupendra Chaudhary. Legislative Council Chairman Manvendra Singh has approved sending the bill to the Select Committee. This bill has raised the political temperature of the state. Voices were raised against the bill not only from the opposition party but also from the ruling party.

Along with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs, MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh, who walked in step with CM Yogi Adityanath, was also seen standing in opposition to the Nazul Land Bill. This is the reason why even after being passed from the Legislative Assembly, the Nazul Bill got stalled after going to the Legislative Council. After getting the approval of the Nazul Land Bill from the Yogi Cabinet on Wednesday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna introduced this bill in the Assembly, with which not only the opposition but also many BJP MLAs came out in protest.

Many allies of BJP also opposed it

BJP MLA Harsh Vardhan Bajpai, Siddharth Nath Singh along with the MLAs of Nishad Party and Jansatta Dal (Democratic) also came out in protest. Despite the opposition of BJP MLAs, the Yogi government was successful in getting the Nazul bill passed from the assembly, but before presenting it in the Legislative Council, it assessed the political profit and loss. Due to this, BJP state president Bhupendra Chaudhary opposed the bill in the Legislative Council and did not let it pass.

The Yogi government's Nazul land related bill has been opposed the most by the BJP MLAs of Prayagraj region. Whether it is Siddharth Nath Singh, BJP MLA from Prayagraj's western seat or Harsh Vardhan, MLA from the city's northern seat, both strongly opposed the bill. Apart from this, Raghuraj Pratap Singh may be an MLA from Kunda area of ​​Pratapgarh, but his influence is believed to extend till Prayagraj. Similarly, Congress MLA Ardhana Mishra is also an MLA from Rampur Khas of Pratapgarh, but she also has full influence in the politics of Prayagraj.

The question arises that why the MLAs of Prayagraj and the adjoining area were the most vocal on the Nazul Land Bill. Before understanding this, it becomes necessary to know what is Nazul land and why the BJP MLAs had to protest against it. Not only this, after passing from the Assembly, why did the demand have to be raised to send Bhupendra Chaudhary to the Select Committee in the Legislative Council.

What is Nazul land

The word Nazul is derived from the Arabic language. The government also has land, which is called government land. One of these government lands is also Nazul land. Before independence, many Indians revolted against the British. When the kings and princes or freedom fighters who revolted against the British were defeated in the war, the British army used to snatch their lands from them. The British government used to take possession of these lands.

There were many people who fought against the British government who did farming and had land. The British used to confiscate their land. Such land was called Nazul land.

After the country got independence from the British, the British lost control over the land of the freedom fighters. After independence, the land which the British had usurped from the owners was returned to their heirs. However, there were many lands which had no heirs left. Apart from this, there were many lands which could not be returned to the royal families because the royal families did not have proper documents to prove their ownership on them. This land is Nazul land. After independence, after the merger of many princely states, Nazul lands were handed over to different states.

More than 28 thousand hectares of Nazul land

There are more than 28 thousand hectares of Nazul land in different cities of Uttar Pradesh. The maximum land is in Prayagraj. It was leased to various private individuals and private institutions as a grant issued under the Government Grants Act 1895 and the subsequent Government Grants Act, 1960. Nazul land is generally used by the governments of various states for public purposes, such as - construction of schools, hospitals, gram panchayat buildings etc. A large part of Nazul land was leased in many cities.

The people who were given Nazul land on lease did not have the right to sell it. In such a situation, boundary was used to sell the leased land. In this way, the lease holders sold a lot of land by making boundary, on which registration was also done easily and some people are living by building houses while some people have set up their business institutions. In this way, lakhs of houses have been built on Nazul land in UP and people have been living by building houses for many generations.

A large part of Prayagraj is part of Nazul

A large part of the areas near Khusro Bagh in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, Civil Lines, Ashok Nagar, Rajapur, Lookarganj, Shivkuti and Georgetown is settled on Nazul land. Nazul land is more in the urban area of ​​Prayagraj. Especially the northern area of ​​the city has the largest part of Nazul land and many parts including Lookarganj of the Western Assembly also have Nazul land. That is why BJP MLAs Harsh Bajpai and Siddharth Nath Singh are opposing the Nazul Land Bill the most, because their area is getting affected more.

The Uttar Pradesh government has from time to time made a policy to declare Nazul land as freehold in public interest. There is about 1300 hectares of Nazul land in Prayagraj, on which people have been living by building houses for generations. In 1997, Kalyan Singh's government had ordered to make the houses built on Nazul land freehold, after which, after the completion of the investigation, the matter of their renewal and those who were paying the installments of freehold reached the court. The court decided regarding Nazul land that the government is the custodian of Nazul land, not the owner. In this way, the freehold law of Nazul land was eclipsed.

BJP leaders worried about vote bank

People living on Nazul land for years were hoping that one day the new law of freehold would fulfill their dream of a home, but now after the bill of the Yogi government, clouds of crisis are looming over the homes of the people. While presenting the bill, Suresh Khanna had said, due to the earlier policies, many types of claims have been made and this became a burden on the banks. In view of the need for land, now continuing these policies and giving permission to convert Nazul land into freehold in public interest is not in the interest of the Uttar Pradesh government.

The bill on Nazul land has made BJP leaders worried about their vote bank. It is likely to directly affect 25 thousand families in Prayagraj alone, while there are large numbers of Nazul lands in Lucknow, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Gorakhpur, Bareilly and Agra. That is why everyone from BJP MLAs to the state president have come out in protest against the Nazul land bill.

Yogi government in defensive mode amid opposition

In such a situation, the Yogi government had to come into defensive mode. In such a situation, the solution has been found that even though the bill has been passed by the Legislative Assembly, but a unanimous recommendation should be made in the Legislative Council to send it to the Select Committee. That is why as soon as Keshav Prasad Maurya introduced the bill, Bhupendra Chaudhary stood up and recommended sending the bill to the Select Committee. The Chairman has approved it. In this way, after this bill was sent to the Select Committee, this bill has been put in limbo.