Involve farmers in drafting Land Acquisition Bill: Rahul

Kisan Mahapanchayat: Tillers ignored as Congress hogs limelight

The demand came at a Kisan Mahapanchayat here in the  Western Uttar Pradesh town,  after his four-day long padyatra (foot march) through the villages  along the Yamuna Express Highway.

Addressing a crowd of about  20,000 people at Numaish Ground, the venue of Mahapanchayat, Rahul Gandhi promised a new Land Acquistion Law.

He, however, asserted that farmers would be benefited by the new law only through its proper implementation

“If we make a new law to acquire land then farmers should be involved in making this law. I am saying this because during my interaction with the farmers of western UP I came to know that they have better understanding of the ground problems even then many senior officers can suggest better solutions,” Rahul Gandhi  said referring to his interaction with the villagers during the foot march.

Seeking to take on the Mayawati government, the Congress leader  said farmers’ land in U P was  being acquired arbitrarily and sold to the builders. He alleged that farmers had to face the police bullets if they protested demanding higher compensation for their lands.

The Gandhi scion said he was unfazed by Mayawati terming his foot-march a mere drama. “I am not bothered with such comments, but I believe that a politician should try to reach out to the farmers and other sections of the society to have a better understanding of their problems.

Saturday’s Kisan Mahapanchayat, attended by all the top Congress leaders of Uttar Pradesh, is being seen as  sounding of the bugle, ahead of the Assembly elections,  scheduled for early next year.

The Congress state unit chief  Rita Bahuguna Joshi said that “The party plans to hold such Mahapanchayats in different parts of the state”.  She appealed to Rahul Gandhi to help solve problems  of people,  reeling under the government alleged misrule. A Minister of State at the Centre, Sachin Pilot, also slammed Mayawati for “robbing the state at the cost of farmers and poor”.

Notably, the Congress had announced to hold the Mahapanchayat in Aligarh after the state government refused to give permission to hold it in Bhatta Parsaul villages in Greater Noida, where violent clashes between police and farmers had left two people dead in May.

On Tuesday Rahul Gandhi reached Bhatta and Parsaul villages to kick start his foot march that ended on Friday. The Mahapanchayat on Saturday was also attended by Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Digvijaya Singh, Minister of state in Union government Jitin Prasad, former cricketer and Lok Sabha MP Azharuddin and almost all the party MPs and legislators from Uttar Pradesh.

BSP terms it flop show
The BSP on Saturday te­r­med the Congress’ ‘kisan mahapanchayat’ at Aligarh a ‘flop show’ and said that the problems of the farmers could not be resolved in a ‘five-minute speech’, reports DHNS from Lucknow.

“The mahapanchayat failed to attract cr­o­wds....those gathered at the meeting were Congr­ess ticket seekers for the Assembly polls ...few farmers were there in the crowd”', a BSP spokesman here claimed.