Calls amendment a betrayal of state’s identity; says BJP will resist move inside and outside Assembly
TNR News Network
DHARAMSHALA: Former Industries Minister and BJP MLA Bikram Thakur on Thursday (October 30, 2025) accused the Himachal Pradesh Congress government of attempting to “sell the state’s identity” under the guise of simplifying Section 118 of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act.
Thakur alleged that the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government was preparing to dilute the law to benefit “capitalists and favoured industrialists” at the cost of the state’s long-term interests. “The so-called simplification of Section 118 is nothing but an assault on Himachal’s pride and autonomy. The BJP will not allow this conspiracy to succeed,” he said in a statement.
Asks it it’s ‘ease of doing business’ or ‘ease of selling Himachal’?
Bikram Thakur said Section 118 was not merely a legal clause but a “line of self-respect” drawn to protect Himachal’s cultural, demographic and environmental integrity. “The state’s first Chief Minister, Dr YS Parmar, introduced it to ensure that outsiders could not buy agricultural land and distort the state’s identity and population balance,” he said.
Attacking the government’s proposed amendments, he remarked, “The Sukhu government calls it ‘ease of doing business’, but in reality ‘it’s ease of selling Himachal’. Weakening Section 118 will open the floodgates for outsiders to grab fertile land, affecting our ecology, agriculture, and future generations.”
The BJP leader accused the Congress of working to benefit “mafias and capitalists,” saying that earlier, the government allowed religious institutions to buy land, and now it is trying to alter the state’s land ownership pattern in the name of attracting investors.
“Once this door is opened, Himachal’s land and traditions will come under external control. The Sukhu government is playing with the very soul of this state. Congress talks of change, but what it’s bringing is not system change — it’s land change,” Thakur asserted.
BJP warns of statewide agitation
Bikram Thakur warned that the BJP would launch a statewide agitation if the Congress government proceeded with the move. “We will fight this battle both inside the Assembly and on the streets. Every clause of this law will be defended, as it represents the wall of Himachal’s self-respect,” he said.
He appealed to the people to see through what he described as the government’s “dangerous design” to compromise the state’s land ownership structure. “This is not an economic reform but political bargaining. Himachal’s land belongs to Himachalis and it will stay that way,” Thakur said.
