By IANS,
New Delhi: Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh Tuesday said party leader Rahul Gandhi’s foot march (padyatra) from the twin villages of Bhatta-Parsaul was aimed at getting first-hand information from people on the land acquisition policy of the Mayawati-led Uttar Pradesh government.
“The foot march is to know what is the benefit, what is the impact of the land acquisition policy of the Mayawati government. When and where he will go, we do not have information,” Singh told reporters.
He said that farmers facing problems relating to land acquisition in any part of Uttar Pradesh should come to the party’s rally in Aligarh July 9 and speak out.
Digvijay Singh said it will be a non-political platform where farmers can make their speeches.
“Rahulji will listen to them and work towards a solution,” the Congress leader said.
He said the Mayawati government had not applied the norms of land acquisition with retrospective effect in areas such as Greater Noida, Aligarh, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahar and Agra.
Digvijay Singh alleged that lands of farmers had been forcibly taken over in the past by the state government.
Accompanied by about 60 state policemen, a sniffer dog squad, fire brigade and ambulance vehicles, besides the elite Special Protection Group (SPG), the Gandhi cavalcade walked 12 km from 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 and reached Nangla Bhattauna by noon.
Gandhi’s visit to the area, a direct challenge to the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh ahead of assembly elections next year, comes about two months after he was briefly detained in Bhatta-Parsaul immediately after the police violence in May.