VP Singh, Bardhan held on way to farmers' rally

Former prime minister V P Singh, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan and Jan Morcha President Raj Babbar were today arrested as they tried to enter Uttar Pradesh, defying the Samajwadi Party government's ban orders, to stage a protest against the land acquisition process for the Reliance Energy power project in Dadri.

Lok Jana Shakti Party MP Ramchandra Paswan and former Samajwadi Party MP Sakshi Maharaj and hundreds of supporters were also arrested at the Delhi-UP border near Ghazipur on National Highway 24. Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Mahendra Singh Tikait was also taken into custody.

Defending the kisan rally, VP Singh said, "How can they acquire farmers' lands in the name of development? If the government has guts, let it acquire Tata Steel's property."

Bardhan said injustice was being done to the farmers who should be the sole determinant of the price of their farm land.

However, the SP said the rally smacked of corporate warfare. "VP Singh didn't try to hold rallies against Mukesh Ambani's proposed SEZ in Haryana. If this were part of a plan to hold rallies in all the states where farmers have lost their land, it would have been another issue. But to merely protest against Anil Ambani's Dadri project is unacceptable," said an SP leader.

The UP government said this was the first time land for any project was acquired from private landowners through mutual agreement. Payment to landowners was made only after a legal ikrarnama (intent to sell) was signed by both parties.