The plot thickens

Barabanki isn8217;t too happy that Amitabh Bachchan had to give up his farmland. But the villagers are glad that the actor is buying more land

As our Indica made its way through the streets of Daulatpur, a village in Barabanki district, it kicked up a lot of dust. Not that anyone bothered 8212; there were no excited children running after the car and no one dropped what they were doing to look up. This didn8217;t strike us as odd till we talked to Ravindra Kumar Singh, the 40-year-old de-facto village head of Daulatpur.

8220;Chhoti, dehati car dekhne ka kya maza jab hamare yahan bade log sundar aur badi caron mein aate rehte hain What8217;s the fun watching small cars when we see famous people in bigger, fancier cars,8221; boasted Singh.

He was talking about actor Amitabh Bachchan, who recently gave up his land here after he got embroiled in a controversy over owning farmland. About 4.142 hectares were allotted to Bachchan in 1983. He bought the land to establish his credentials as a farmer to buy agricultural land at Pale in Maharashtra. But last week, there were reports that Bachchan gave up the land and donated it to the village panchayat.

8220;Bachchan returned three pieces of farmland to the gram sabha under pressure from the Mayawati government. But we are happy that he is not leaving the village yet. Last week, his attorney Vinay Kumar Shukla purchased about 10 bighas of freehold land for Bachchan,8221; Singh, who has sold a plot to Bachchan, said. He said he was planning a visit to Mumbai to request the filmstar to adopt Daulatpur.

Singh and others in the village aren8217;t happy that Bachchan was forced to give up the land. They were getting used to the all the attention they were getting. 8220;Thanks to Bachchan, Daulatpur is as famous as Mohenjodaro,8221; he guffawed.

Srinath Chaturvedi, who also sold a plot to Bachchan on July 13 this year, said, 8220;Bachchan probably lives with a sense of guilt about not doing enough for the poor. Buying land for the school and hospital is his way of giving something back to the poor and needy.8221;

8220;There are 3000 acres of disputed gram sabha land on the border of Barabanki and Sitapur districts. No government ever did anything about distributing them to the poor. Then why should people object when Bachchan buys land here,8221; said Mayaram Chaturvedi, 72.

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8220;Ameer log yahan aenge to gareeb Daulatpur me daulat aegi, isliye agar woh galat ho to bhi use mat roko8221; Daulatpur will be wealthy if rich people come here. So don8217;t stop him from coming here even if he is wrong, Chaturvedi said.