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Rahul's proof of atrocities on farmers in UP
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had on Monday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and complained to him about alleged 'rape' of women and 'murder' of farmers agitating against land acquisition in Mayawati-ruled Uttar Pradesh.
Gandhi, who led an eight-member delegation to Singh, alleged later that huge heaps of ash carrying burnt bodies have been found in the villages where farmers were agitating for better compensation for their land acquired by Mayawati government.
Gandhi also showed the Prime Minister pictures of other forms of violence against farmers and their family members. Rediff.com has got access to these photographs.
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Rahul's proof of atrocities on farmers in UP
"The issue here is a more fundamental one with regard to these villages in particular and a large number of villages in UP all down the Agra highway, where state repression is being used, where people are being murdered.
"Quite severe atrocities taking place there....There is a set of large 74 heaps of ash there with dead bodies inside. Everybody in the village knows it. We can give you pictures. Women have been raped, people have been thrashed. Houses have been destroyed," Gandhi told media persons.
Rahul's proof of atrocities on farmers in UP
It was a delegation of eight persons. To a question why the Centre is yet to amend the Land Acquisition Act even as he had met the Prime Minister even last year with the same demand, Gandhi said it was taking time as the legislation was a complex one.
Rahul's proof of atrocities on farmers in UP
"We are committed to it and realize that it is a complex piece of legislation. And that is why it is taking some time", Gandhi said adding the issue was a larger one.
"What I am concerned about how we are treating our people. Most of the people (farmers) said that they are more than happy to give their land for development. They said if a road is being built, they have no problem.
"Most poor people want development in the country and they are ready for the sacrifice. The question is how we treat those poor people. Do we treat them fairly or do we brutalize them? And that is why I brought these people to the PM because after all they are Indian people and we have to look after their interests as well," Gandhi said.
Rahul's proof of atrocities on farmers in UP
In a memorandum to the Prime Minister, the farmers of Bhatta, Parsol and Acheypur villages in Sadar tehsil of UP's Gautam Budh Nagar district claimed that since May 7, the state government has been unleashing terror upon them.
'Our men folk have been shot and killed by the UP Police and Provincial Armed Constabulary, and their bodies burnt. Many menfolk have been missing since May 7,' the memorandum said.
'Many of our family members have been put behind bars on the pretext of false cases and are being intimidated in prison. Our elders, women and children have been physically assaulted,' it added.
Rahul's proof of atrocities on farmers in UP
The famers complained to the prime minister that the womenfolk were manhandled, molested and raped by the state police and PAC personnel.
'Our homes have been ransacked. Our children have been threatened and have been made to miss their school/college exams. Our civil liberties are being denied to us,' they added.
Rahul's proof of atrocities on farmers in UP
Terming as baseless the allegations of Congress that a large number of lives were lost in Bhatta Parsaul and women raped, a Bahujan Samaj Party spokesman alleged in Lucknow that Congress has been playing such political drama in Uttar Pradesh to regain its lost ground and Rahul Gandhi's meeting the PM was "another such attempt".
The Congress, on the other hand, demanded a judicial probe into the charges of rape of women and murder of farmers.
"What we are asking for is a judicial inquiry... if there are grave allegations made, if there are charges where photographs have been produced, I don't understand what problem the UP government can possibly face in ordering a judicial inquiry," Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said.
Rahul's proof of atrocities on farmers in UP
