Alawalpur/Aligarh: Continuing his footmarch
in Uttar Pradesh for the second day on Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi lashed
out at Chief Minister Mayawati over "forcible" acquisition of
land from farmers and said the state government must
understand its responsibilities.
The 41-year-old AICC general secretary was headed
towards Aligarh where the district administration said his
`kisan padyatra` would be a "clear violation" of prohibitory
orders in force if it enters the area. A Congress-backed kisan
mahapanchayat is planned in Aligarh on Saturday.
Keeping the BSP supremo firmly on his cross-hairs, Rahul
during his series of interactions with villagers while
trudging the dusty tracks of western UP said it was painful to
know that farmers, whose land is being acquired, come to know
of it only when the process is already over.
Extolling the farmers and people to share their stories
with him, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family said he has
come to hear them.
Resuming his march after a night halt at a farmer`s
house at Rampur Bangar, Rahul said the magnitude in which land
was being acquired in UP was not happening anywhere else.
"It`s ok if the land is being acquired for road. Roads
should be constructed and development must take place, but
here land is being taken for colony," he said in Alawalpur.
The ruling BSP on its part attacked Rahul terming his
padyatra as merely a "stunt and a political drama" in view of
the coming Assembly Elections.
"The love for farmers is nothing but a stunt and
political drama being enacted by Congress yuvraj before the
coming Assembly Elections," a BSP statement said.
In Aligarh, SSP Satyendra Vir Singh said, "Section 144
CrPC is in force all over the district since June 12 and in
this background Rahul Gandhi`s padyatra will be a clear
violation (of prohibitory orders)."
The SSP, however, clarified that if there is no
apprehension of law and order problem, the authorities might
choose not to prevent Rahul`s entry into the district.
Heavy police force was also deployed near Siarol
village on Aligarh-Gautam Budh Nagar border. Rahul is barely
at a short distance from the border, official sources said in
Aligarh.
PTI
