Thaindian News

Nangla Bhattauna (Uttar Pradesh), July 5 (IANS) Ramping up pressure on the Mayawati-led government, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi Tuesday took his campaign against forced land acquisition to the farmer’s doorstep, walking from village to village and stressing at each stop that he was with them in their fight.

“I am listening to you, I am with you,” the Congress general secretary told a gathering in this village in the lucrative Greater Noida belt, about 60 km from the Indian capital, on day one of a proposed foot march that will end in Aligarh July 9 with a farmers’ rally.

Accompanied by about 60 state policemen, a sniffer dog squad, fire brigade and ambulance vehicles, besides the elite Special Protection Group (SPG), the Rahul cavalcade walked 12 km from the twin villages of Bhatta Parsaul - the epicentre of a farmers’ agitation against land acquisition by the state government.

Gandhi had begun the day early, surprising state authorities by reaching Bhatta Parsaul at 6 a.m. despite being denied permission to hold a rally there. The venue of the rally was then shifted to Aligarh.

After interacting with villagers there, he began the foot march (padyatra) and reached Nangla Bhattauna by noon.

“I have come to you. I am listening to you. I am with you,” Gandhi, 41, told the gathering of men, women and children, described as a ‘kisan panchayat’ by his aides.

He interacted with the villagers for 45 minutes.

“I went to Bhatta Parsaul to know the truth. Sitting in Delhi, I cannot know the truth,” Gandhi said. “I know the truth about the situation here. You also know the truth.”

Four people, including two policemen, were killed in violence in Bhatta Parsaul in May.

“Rahul Gandhi will be conducting similar kisan panchayats and understanding the feelings of the villagers en route,” Iqbal Singh, a village leader, told IANS.

Several farmers spoke up at the panchayat.

“We are not against development or land acquistion by the government. But we are against acquisition of our land for builders, who use it for commercial purposes and make big money,” Iqbal Singh said at the meeting.

Gandhi told earlier told farmers that “land acquisition is taking place from here to Agra”.

He met farmers in Rustampur soon after he showed up at Bhatta-Parsaul. Addressing them, he lashed out at the Mayawati government in the state and alleged that police were committing excesses against people.

“I have started this yatra. I have started it from Bhatta and will go to all villages and see what is happening to ascertain your views on the new land acquisition policy of the Uttar Pradesh government,” he said.

Gandhi said he also wanted to know what farmers thought about the new land acquisition policy being framed by the central government. “I want to hear from you about the land acquisition policy.”

Gandhi’s visit to the area, a direct challenge to the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh ahead of elections next year, comes about two months after Gandhi was detained in Bhatta Parsaul immediately after the police violence in May.