Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Monday evening over the farmers? agitation in Uttar Pradesh with a delegation of villagers from Greater Noida and accused the Mayawati government of resorting to murder and rape to acquire land.
Gandhi and an eight member delegation of agitating farmers met Singh at his 7 Race Course Road residence, and said the Uttar Pradesh government was brutalizing the farmers.
?I met the Prime Minister and I am very concerned about what is going on. The situation is still pretty bad,? Gandhi told reporters after the meeting.
?The villagers said they like to meet the PM and so I facilitated that. It was an eight member delegation. They had a good conversation with the PM. He listened patiently, that was the idea,? he said.
“The issue here is more fundamental,” he said when told why the Congress is delaying a land acquisition bill.
The Gandhi scion alleged that the Mayawati government is oppressing villagers in the name of land acquisition.
?State oppression has been used. People were murdered,? Gandhi said.
He said women were raped, people killed and houses have been destroyed.
He said there are pictures of places where people were killed.
“What I am concerned about is how we are meeting our own people. Most poor people said they want to give land and want development. They would be more than happy. They are ready to sacrifice. But the question is how we treat them, whether we treat them fairly or we brutalize them,” said Gandhi.
He said the Land Acquisition Bill will come in the next session of Parliament but the question in Greater Noida is of atrocities on the farmers.
Gandhi reached the affected Bhatta Parsaul village in Greater Noida evading policemen on May 11. He was later arrested and released.
Faced with an opposition protest in alliance with the angry farmers of Greater Nodia, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on May 12 said the opposition is playing dirty politics and misleading the farmers and instigating violence for political gains.
“They are out to malign our image. But our paty [Bahujan Samaj Party] will overcome the slander campaign,” said Mayawati in a press conference here, claiming that the farmers were adequately compensated but the opposition is spreading rumours.
Rahul was arrested and later released by Uttar Pradesh police at wee hours on May 12 after a day of high drama on May 11.