Cong revives Bhatta-Parsaul issue, Sachin Pilot arrested

From Neelabh Srivastava
Greater Noida, May 22 (PTI) Reviving the
Bhatta-Parsaul farmers' issue, Indian National Congress leader
Sachin Pilot Sunday visited protestors lodged in Dasna Jail
and was arrested on way to the violence-hit areas to meet
families of those injured during the agitation over land
acquisition.
Pilot, Indian Minister of State for Information
Technology, along with around 100 supporters, was arrested on
National Highway 24 when his cavalcade left for Bhatta and
Parsaul villages after he met those jailed during the farmers'
agitation demanding more compensation for their land.
The 34-year-old minister and his supporters were first
taken to the police lines and later escorted to the UP-Delhi
border at Noida before being released around 4:30 PM. They
were taken into custody at around 2:30 PM under section 151
CrPC (arrest to prevent commission of cognisable offences).
"I will brief the (Indian) Prime Minister tonight when
I meet him at the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) dinner. We
will not allow the UP government to forcefully acquire land.
They should stop the land acquisition totally. The UP
government should conduct a judicial inquiry and take the
views of NCW (National Commission for Women) and NHRC
(National Human Rights Commission) seriously," Pilot told
reporters after his release.
He alleged that the Mayawati government in Uttar
Pradesh (north Indian state) is abusing its power and "killing
people".
"I was not allowed to enter even Gautam Budh Nagar. I
was arrested in Ghaziabad. I told the police that I just want
to meet the villagers of Bhatta-Parsaul but they did not
allow," Pilot said.
On his visit to Dasna Jail, where he was allowed
inside with two of his supporters, Pilot said he met 22
villagers who have been booked "under as many as 14 sections"
of IPC.
Four persons, including two policemen, were killed on
May 7 during the Bhatta-Parsaul agitation.
"We want a judicial probe into the entire incident (at
Bhatta-Parsaul). I was going to Bhatta-Parsaul to meet and
console the families of the villagers. I was not breaking any
law and my arrest is unjustified," he said.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi was arrested
on the night of May 11 by the UP Police after he had slipped
unnoticed in pre-dawn hours to the affected area in support of
the farmers agitating against the state's land acquisition
process for an expressway project.
Gandhi, who had spent nearly 19 hours at Bhatta
Parsaul, was arrested under Sec 151 CrPC and released later.
Backing Gandhi's claim of police atrocities on farmers
in Greater Noida villages, the National Commission for Women
has said complaints of molestation, stripping and rape of
women as well as of people being burnt alive have come before
it and has sought a CBI probe to "bring out the truth".
The UP government has, however, dismissed as baseless
the allegations of burning of people and rape of women in
Bhatta-Parsaul and said preliminary forensic reports of ashes
collected from the area have ruled out presence of any human
remains.
Attacking UP Chief Minister Mayawati, All India
Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Digvijay Singh,
who had accompanied Gandhi to Bhatta-Parsaul, accused the
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government of "throwing away all the
commitments given by the earlier governments about land
acquisition."
He said in Delhi that Pilot has also facilitated a
number of compromises between the farmers and administration
on the issue.
Singh lauded Pilot's commitment to the cause of the
farmers saying he has inherited it from his late father Rajesh
Pilot, who had raised the issue of land acquisition many
times.
Asked as to what will be Congress' strategy in wake of
the UP government not indicating any move to increase the
compensation to farmers of Bhatta-Parsaul, Singh said it was a
"political fight" and Congress would continue to raise the
issue.
Taking the land acquisition issue in UP to the Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh's door, Gandhi had on May 16
complained to him about about alleged "rape" of women and
"murder" of farmers there.
Pilot, while on his way back to Delhi, alleged, "The
Mayawati government is behaving like a real estate agent. She
cannot dictate her unjust terms."
"How long can she do this? We will reach out to the
people and ensure that justice is done to the villagers of
Bhatta-Parsaul and all such villages affected by land
acquisition," he said as he was being taken back to Delhi in a
UP Police vehicle which dropped him at his official residence
at Safdarjung Lane.
The Congress MP from Ajmer earlier said as he met
those lodged in Dasna Jail in connection with the agitation,
he found a 70-year-old villager with his hand plastered.
"He is not one example. People who have no criminal
history have been put in the jail. A 35-year old woman, Bala,
is not traceable for the last few days."
"I was told about atrocities committed on women of
Bhatta-Parsaul by police and other officials. We will take
this forward," he said.