The Bharatiya Janta Party o Saturday said Rahul Gandhi's padyatra in Uttar Pradesh would be treated merely as a "political tour" unless the Congress governments increase land acquisition compensations to farmers in states like Maharashtra and explain why farmer suicides were taking place.
"Gandhi should first go into the questions of why 10 lakh farmer suicides have taken place in the country. Before asking the UP government what injustice it is doing to farmers, he should answer why injustice was done and atrocities visited on the unarmed, innocent people at Ramlila grounds by the police," BJP President Nitin Gadkari said. He was replying to questions from the media at the party headquarters in New Delhi.
Gadkari also sought answers from Gandhi on deaths caused by hunger due to increasing prices. Gandhi, who started his padyatra at Bhatta-Parsaul villages in Greater Noida four days back, on Saturday held a Kisan Mahapanchayat at Aligarh. At the well-attended public meeting he lashed out at the Mayawati government in UP over its anti-farmer compensation policy for the agriculturists whose land was acquired by the state government.
"The land acquisition compensation in Maharashtra is even less that UP. Farmers are exploited there. If Gandhi stops this then people will believe him else this is just a political tour," Gadkari said. He further asked Gandhi to clarify why tear gas was used on the crowd at Ramlila ground, women, children and sadhus beaten mercilessly when they had "not even thrown a stone" at the police.
