Congress throws its lot behind anti-Posco protesters

NEW DELHI: Amid looming confrontation between villagers and police, Congress warned Orissa government not to use force against protesters at the Posco site.

The party made it clear that it was for talks to resolve the issue as it positioned itself to tap the resentment against the BJD-ruled state with a replay of Bhatta Parsaul strategy. The pictures of locals lying on the ground in scorching heat to stall authorities from taking possession of land, amid a huge police deployment, nudged the Congress to intervene.

Party's state in-charge Jagdish Tytler told reporters, "Congress stands by the people. The state should not use force against people in any situation."

Tytler slammed the state as "inhuman", saying that the Navin Patnaik regime was not moved by the sight of people, including children and women, lying in the open in 45 degrees temperature to stall the acquisition drive.

The warning from the AICC seems a bid to replay the Bhatta Parsaul gambit in Orissa, where the party has ceded as much political space as in Uttar Pradesh and where it thinks that sensitivity of land issue can catapault it back to a serious opposition slot.

Rahul Gandhi's visit to Greater Noida villages to protest against police action on farmers opposing acquisition seems to dictate the trend.

The Congress stand is sure to rile chief minister Navin Patnaik, who has seen all this before. Before Posco, the Congress heir apparent had taken up the tribals' cause against mining in the Niyamgiri hills. The Centre's thumbs down to Niyamgiri mining angered the Patnaik regime, which accused the Congress of playing politics with development. The state has staked a lot of its energy on Posco, and is unlikely to take kindly to the rival's sympathy for anti-Posco protesters.