All the roads leading to Badalpur, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s ancestral village, have been dug up to install a new sewerage system for a population of 4,000.
A large hoarding in Hindi just outside the village says: “Badalpur has been declared an Ambedkar village (Mayawati’s scheme for model villages) in 2002-03”. The hoarding, like many other installations in the village, is painted blue and white — the colours of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
While temperature in the village soars over the BSP chief’s dream garden, local children have found a place to beat the summer heat — a newly-built arterial canal to provide water throughout the year to Badalpur.
The villages in parts of western UP might feel scarcity of water at the height of summer, but Badalpur has water all the year round, even to host swimming competitions for cheerful local lads.
Mayawati is all over the place. Many villages in India can only boast of being the birthplaces of prime ministers and chief ministers but Badalpur is proud of its assets — a hospital, one polytechnic and two girls’ colleges. It has regular power supply and its prosperity is reflected in the number of big pucca houses in the village.
Mayawati has done a lot to develop her native village. But this has boomeranged. When she tells people that she wants to “further develop the place” by creating a mega garden and evicting people from their valuable habitat, the villagers say: “We want more.”
Many are not actually averse to sparing their land but want to know what it will be used for.
Budhsingh Verma, owner of over eight acres of land in Saadulpur, says: “If there is a project to build a school or other civic amenities, we are ready to give land. Residents in my village can pool up to 20 acres and also give cash assistance. But why should we give our land for a garden? What purpose will it serve for our children,” he asks.
Some of them say they have already contributed a lot of land for development projects and are not in a position to sell more.
Retired professor Ishwar Prasad Sharma says: “Already, we have given land for a lot of development works. Many of us depend for our livelihood on roadside shops because our farms are long gone. Those lands will be acquired and we will be left with nothing. On an average, a farmer here has one acre land and has to look after a large family.”
Most villagers realise the potential value of their land being in close proximity to both Delhi and Indirapuram, the housing hotspot of Uttar Pradesh. Indirapuram is already saturated and as it looks towards eastward expansion, areas in and around Badalpur have a bright future.
“You can’t win against the government,” says Dharam Singh, one of the leaders of the agitation. “Let’s see if the prices of the land go up.”
Yet the villagers have a soft spot in their heart for Mayawati. As agitators raise their voice against her in the courtyard of Kirpal Singh, an affluent farmer of Badalpur, he tells them: “We should not forget that this is a family matter. We live in Behenji’s village and we are her people.”
While villagers in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur or West Bengal’s Nandigram flatly refused to negotiate with the government, here, they are willing to talk. Says Kirpal Singh: “They are giving us compensation at government rates. They should give us a better rehabilitation package. And Behenji should talk directly to us.”
Kartar Singh also has a solution: “It is simple. The administration should spare us land for building homes and the rest should be bought at market rates.” The Congress, which has jumped into action, understands the pulse of the people. While supporting the Kisan Sangharsh Rally (farmers’ struggle), senior leader Digvijay Singh said the farmers should be paid the market price.
The local population mainly comprises Gujjars, a pastoral and politically aggressive community, with a significant percentage of dalits and Brahmins.
Like its social base, the villagers here talk in different voices. But their message is one and clear: Mayawati should hear the call of the market and not offer just Rs 711 per square metre of land that has already emerged as the most valuable in her kingdom.
