Rahul Gandhi started the Padyatra and Roti on Tuesday from Bhatta-Parsaul village.
Rahul Gandhi resumed his footmarch on Wednesday to make common cause with farmers in Uttar Pradesh over land acquisition after an overnight halt at this village where in slept in the open. The 41-year-old AICC general secretary is on the second day of his padayatra in Western UP, a footmarch billed as a campaign against Chief Minister Mayawati ahead of the Congress' proposed 'kisan mahapanchayat' in the neighbouring Aligarh district on July 9.
The Congress General Secretary made impromptu stops on Tuesday, interacting with villagers. The padyatra will culminate at the Congress' Kisan Mahapanchayat at Aligarh on Saturday.
On May 9, Gandhi had defied prohibitory orders, rode pillion on a motorcycle before daybreak and got arrested while protesting against the Uttar Pradesh government's land acquisition at Bhatta-Parsaul for the Yamuna Expressway linking Noida and Agra.
Rahul was referring to farmers losing land through the state government's land acquisition policy.
The Uttar Pradesh government has imposed Section 144 in the area.
Congress party leaders reacted strongly to the UP government's imposing Section 144 and said that if what Rahul was doing was a farce then the BSP should go to the people and clarify it.
Rahul said when "rich people sell their lands in Delhi, they get high market value. But, here land is being taken forcibly from farmers. While the market rate is above Rs 1,000, you are getting only Rs 200."
Rahul Gandhi's visit to Bhatta Parsaul on Tuesday, the Uttar Pradesh government has denied having any prior knowledge about the Congress general secretary's footmarch. "The state has not been told about the duration of his stay, we came to know about his visit only when he arrived in the state," a senior official said.
At Bhatta, Gandhi sat on a cot, addressed the villagers as Dada, Amma and Didi, and held a smiling child in a school uniform while he interacted with those affected in the May 7 violence when two villagers and two policemen were killed in a clash between the police against protesting farmers. Village elders reciprocated by calling him Beta.
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