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Journalism of Courage
A DAY after Rahul Gandhis visit to Aligarh’s Tappal area to express his support for the ongoing farmers agitation over demands of higher compensation,Chief Minister Mayawati decided to support the farmers decision to gherao Parliament on August 26 over delay in amendment to the Land Acquisition Act,1894.
Earlier,a nationwide call for the gherao of Parliament was given by the RLD in the wake of the August 14 clash between farmers and police in Aligarh over the demand of higher compensation for their lands being acquired for the Yamuna Expressway project. Later,the agitation spread to other areas.
Addressing a press conference late on Sunday evening,Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh said Mayawati had decided to support the farmers’ decision to gherao Parliament for amendment to the Land Acquisition Act. He read out a statement of the CM.
Reacting to Mayawatis move to support the farmers decision,RLD chief Ajit Singh said,Farmers accuse the same Mayawati of acquiring their lands. This is ironical.
The UP Cabinet Secretary said Mayawati had always opposed the forcible acquisition of farmers’ lands. He added that she felt that there was an urgent need to make amendments in the Act. Pro-industrialist governments that ruled at the Centre in the last six decades never paid attention to the farmers demand to amend the Act, the statement said.
Attacking the Congress,it said while the farmers continuously demand amendment in the Land Acquisition Act,the Congress-led UPA government has acquired their lands for benefiting the industrialist in the name of SEZs. This has led to resentment among farmers. They are forced to launch agitation in different parts of the country because of the anti-farmer policy of the UPA government.
Mayawati also held the previous NDA government responsible for ignoring problems of farmers,saying the NDA government had failed to make much needed amendments to the Act.
