Mr. Modi said that efforts to amend the law at the federal level were “over now,” and said it was up to individual states to pursue changes, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Congress party in reaction said that it has raised the voice of farmers against the land acquisition bill and this has forced BJP to step back.
"They are not going to do anything on land acquisition bill because Congress party and other parties has opposed it very strongly. Congress party has raised the voice of many farmers of this country against the land acquisition bill This has forced Modi ji to step back," Manish Tewari, senior Congress leader, said.
The Centre had put in all efforts to amend the UPA-piloted Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, including doing so through an ordinance that was repromulgated a couple of times. It was first promulgated in December 2014, within seven months of the Modi government taking charge.
The amendment bill was passed by the Lok Sabha but ran into opposition in the Rajya Sabha where the Modi government does not have the numbers.
A joint committee of 30 MPs from both Houses of Parliament was then constituted in the budget session of 2015 to examine the bill. The committee met frequently till Prime Minister Modi said in his Mann ki Baat radio programme on August 30, 2015, that the amendments would be withdrawn.
Some members then cited Modi's announcement to question the relevance of the panel. Its meetings have been erratic since then. The last was in February this year.