Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday lashed out at the All-India Congress Committee general secretary, Rahul Gandhi, saying the “Congress Yuvraj,” instead of indulging in “political drama,” should be advised to take up the issue of land acquisition policy with the Centre.
Mr. Gandhi was arrested at Bhatta-Parsaul in Greater Noida at 11 p.m. on Wednesday on security grounds, but released at 1.30 a.m. on Thursday. He reached New Delhi at 2.15 a.m.
Earlier, around daybreak on Wednesday, riding pillion on a motorcycle, Mr. Gandhi gave the slip to the Noida district administration and reached Bhatta-Parsaul villages, which were affected by violence. He staged a dharna at Parsaul village in support of the farmers' demand for better compensation for the land acquired for development and Yamuna Expressway projects.
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Addressing a press conference, Ms. Mayawati said: “It seems he has no takers in the UPA government. Hence he is venting his anger in Uttar Pradesh and indulging in theatrics as was evident from his actions at Bhatta-Parsaul.”
“If the Congressmen [read Mr. Gandhi] considered themselves farmers' well-wishers, they should be in Rae Bareli where the farmers are demanding more compensation for their land acquired for a rail coach factory,” Ms. Mayawati said in an indirect reference to UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who concluded a two-day visit to her constituency of Rae Bareli on Thursday.
Ms. Mayawati said a decision on framing a land acquisition policy had to be taken by the UPA government. Her government had written several letters to the Centre on the subject, but it did not pay heed to the issue.
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“The absence of a new and credible land acquisition policy is at the bottom of the problems related to land acquisition in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere,” she said.
She accused the Congress and other Opposition parties of spreading lies and rumours to mislead the people, in a bid to build up a false case against the Bahujan Samaj Party government.
The Bhatta-Parsaul incidents were not related to land acquisition, she said; nor was the land acquired for the Yamuna Expressway. “The land at Bhatta-Parsaul had been acquired under the master plan prepared by the Greater Noida Authority, and the acquisition and compensation issues were settled in 2009-10.”