The Congress Party put the blame for the Noida farmers uprising squarely on the UP state government led by Mayawati.
Speaking to reporters in the capital, spokesperson Manish Tewari dismissed the suggestion that the delay by the Central government in passing the Land Acquisition Act has contributed to aggravating the plight of the protesting farmers in UP.
Tewari also attacked the Mayawati government for using force against villagers.
He denied that the problem would not have occurred if the Land Acquisition Act had been passed in time.
“The underlying catalyst that impels actions like these is the belief that you can override local sentiment with state power,” he said.
Mayawati, whose Bahujan Samjwadi Party (People’s Socialist Party) is in power in India’s most populous state, has dismissed the protests as a political game by her opponents Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). The Party has pointed out that the leader of the farmers — who traditionally vote for her opponents — is himself close to the Samajwadi Party and RLD.
Farmers have been clashing with police for two days demanding higher compensation for the land that has been acquired to build an expressway from Delhi suburbs to Agra.