Land stir: Politicians flock to Noida,Mayawati says,’arrest’

Joshi and scores of Congress leaders,including legislators,and workers were baton-charged and detained in Lucknow and elsewhere during a statewide ‘chakka jam’ protest by the party against the arrest of Gandhi in Bhatta Parsaul last night and in support of farmers’ demands in western UP.

Similar protests by Congress were held in other parts of the state including Rae Bareli,Ghaziabad,Jhansi,Meerut,Allahabad and Sitapur districts while security was stepped up in Greater Noida with the administration re-clamping prohibitory orders.

While the Centre criticised the manner in which UP had handled protests,the Congress launched a tirade against Mayawati with senior leader Digvijay Singh,who was detained along with Gandhi,calling her a “dictator” and demanded a judicial inquiry into alleged police brutalities in Bhatta Parsaul region.

Union Minister Salman Khurshid claimed Mayawati was “jittery and losing sleep” over the tremendous support and respect Gandhi was getting both inside and outside the party.

Home Minister P Chidambaram said law and order in Uttar Pradesh is not a “happy situation” as farmers were protesting in many villages on the land acquisition issue and criticised the way Mayawati was handling the protests.

But he ruled out sending a central team to assess the situation there in view of recent clashes in Greater Noida where two farmers and as many policemen were killed.

The arrest of Rajnath Singh,who sat on a fast in support of the farmers’ stir,along with Jaitley and Naqvi in Ghaziabad evoked a strong reaction from BJP which said that UP was under “dictatorship”,vowed to continue its protest irrespective of “repression” and demanded CM’s resignation.

Hitting back at the Opposition,Mayawati said the clashes in Greater Noida had nothing to do with the issue of land compensation and accused the Congress,BJP and other parties of attempting to disturb law and order by spreading “rumours” while dubbing Gandhi’s dharna as “mean theatrics”.

“By spreading lies and rumours,opposition parties are attempting to disturb law and order situation by misleading people and Bhatta Parsaul incident is an example of their dirty politics,” Mayawati told reporters in Lucknow.

She accused the Centre of not providing due compensation to farmers for Rae Bareli rail coach factory land and said Gandhi should have been standing with them and not in Noida.

Congress spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh rejected the charge and said the land acquired for a railway project is in public interest and “not for private builders and developers as was being done by Mayawati government”.

While Mayawati blamed the Centre for failing to bring in the Land Acquisition Bill,Chidambaram said the government has plans to introduce the measure in the next session of Parliament as there appears to be consensus on the issue.

The Home Minister,who was speaking in Delhi,hoped that the Uttar Pradesh government would heed to reason and respond to the “just demands” of the people.

Chidambaram disapproved of the police lathicharge on Congress activists in Lucknow and said the loss of lives in Bhatta Parsaul was “very distressing”.

UP Congress party spokesperson Subodh Srivastava said that several party workers were injured in police action.

In Rae Bareli,two MLAs and MLCs along with other party workers were detained and later released after they blocked the national highway. In Allahabad,Congress workers,led by the party’s leader in the state assembly Pramod Tiwari and local MLA Anugrah Narain Singh,blocked the Allahabad-Kanpur highway.

Police took the agitators into custody and drove them to the Civil Lines police station where the party activists continued to raise slogans against the “undemocratic” Mayawati government.

About 40 party workers led by former MLA Sukhbir Singh Gahlot were arrested in Ghaziabad,its DM Hredesh Kumar said.

LJP leader Paswan,who was arrested in Noida while attempting to enter Bhatta Parsaul village,demanded the dismissal of UP government.

Rakesh Tikait and 100 BKU workers were arrested when they broke a police barrier in Ganga Nagar while on their way to Bhatta Parsaul,DIG (Meerut) Prem Prakash said.

The BJP leaders were arrested on charge of breach of peace under section 151 CrPC and taken to the police lines in a police van in Ghaziabad where prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC which do not allow assembly of four or more persons were already imposed.

Rajnath,who was accompanied by several BJP and JD(U) leaders,alleged that there was “utter lawlessness and rampant” corruption in Uttar Pradesh under the BSP government.

If a BJP government came to power it would form a commission to investigate all corruption cases against the Mayawati government,he said.

“The situation in UP is such that even legitimate protest is prohibited. This is an intolerant government. Our protest will continue irrespective of repression,” Arun Jaitley told PTI after the arrest.

Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha alleged that Mayawati was being dictatorial and acting like an “Ottoman ruler”.

“If the opposition goes there,you cannot find fault with them. It is our duty to reach out to the farmers in this hour of need,” he said.

RLD leader Ajit Singh,who met Rural Development Minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh to discuss the crucial bill to amend the Land Acquisition Act,expressed the hope that the legislation will be introduced in the next session of Parliament and it will favour the farmers.

Singh said his party had suggested many amendments to the Bill and many changes have been done since they last saw the draft of it.

Meanwhile,the National Human Rights Commission said it was “pained” by the violence in Greater Noida and will send an investigation team to the affected villages.

Special DGP Brij Lal rejected the charge of Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi that skeletons of victims were lying in Bhatta Parsaul village and described as “false” the allegation that many people had died and human remains had been found there.