Aligarh: Winding up his four-day padyatra in the battle against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused her government of acquiring farmers’ lands for golf courses and racing tracks and firing upon poor farmers when they protest.
Addressing a ‘kisan mahapanchayat’, capping his 70-km foot march through the villages of Greater Noida and Aligarh district, he rejected criticism that he was enacting a ‘drama’, apparently referring to Mayawati’s description of his march as nautanki.
Using some strong words for his rival in the campaign seen as preparations for the next year Assembly elections, Gandhi said that in Uttar Pradesh a farmer gets to know about the acquisition of his land only when the builder comes and tells him that the land belongs to him.
“In UP, we are not against development or making roads. But this land is being taken away to make golf courses, colonies and racing track from farmers and that is why they are angry,” gandhi added.
An estimated crowd of about 10,000-15,000 farmers attended the Mahapanchayat, whose venue became soggy in early morning rains, capping the padyatra that began in the villages of Bhatta-Parsaul, the epicentre of a violent agitation against land acquisition in Greater Noida in May.
Dismissing criticism about his campaign, Gandhi said many people felt it was a drama. “A politician needs to go to people and talk to them and that is what I believe,” he said.
Referring to land acquisition law, Gandhi said some farmers are worried about it because it is old and they have problems with it.
Gandhi said after the agitation in Bhatta-Parsaul, Mayawati came out with a new policy on land acquisition which he said will not benefit the affected people there.
“That is why I set out on this padyatra,” he added. (PTI)
