UP elections: Rahul Gandhi's pitch shifts to farmers

GHAZIABAD: “If farmers fight for their rights in UP, they are branded naxalites and showered with bullets ,” Rahul Gandhi said here on Thursday, turning his focus on western UP where voting will be held on February 28 in the sixth phase.

The Congress general secretary last year championed the cause of Bhatta Parsaul villagers demanding higher compensation for their land acquired by the Mayawati government . There were reports of police atrocities at the time. Addressing an election meeting in Ghaziabad, Gandhi said: “Big builders here are gifted lands worth crores of rupees at throwaway prices. Is it a crime to agitate in support of a just demand?”

Tearing into the BSP government for ignoring farmers’ plight, Gandhi said farmers were committing suicide , but the government wasn’t doing anything for them. He urged the audience not to trust Mayawati or Mulayam, as neither was worthy of their votes.

“They and the BJP are to blame for UP’s backwardness. They were in charge since 1989, the year the state slipped out of Congress hands. They come in choppers , get the votes and then forget the voters,” Gandhi said.