UP farmers' stir spreads to Agra, Mathura, Aligarh

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Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh is stopped by the police in Noida on his way to Greater Noida’s Bhatta village.

The farmers’ agitation against land acquisition in Uttar Pradesh appears to be developing into a major confrontation between them and the state government as it spread on Sunday to Agra, Mathura and Aligarh. There were reports of farmers clashing with the police and even torching some vehicles at these places.
The agitating farmers reportedly also set construction equipment on fire in Agra. Four policemen were said to be injured at Chaugaan village in Agra district when the farmers turned violent there and clashed with the police. The land acquisition process is on for the Yamuna Expressway.
The toll in Saturday’s violence in the Greater Noida area, where the agitation began, rose to four on Sunday. Three people had been reported killed on Saturday.
The Mayawati government announced a reward of `50,000 for the arrest of farmers’ leader Manveer Singh Tewatia, who is alleged to have incited the violence in the Bhatta Parsaul villages in Greater Noida’s Gautam Buddh Nagar on Saturday. This had led to the deaths of two policemen and a farmer. The angry farmers had initially also held three UP Roadways employees hostage to protest against the land acquisition, but they had later been rescued.
Manveer Tewatia, who heads the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, has been absconding since Saturday’s violence. Bhatta Parsaul remained tense on Sunday after the death of Kalu, a farmer. Police officials said on Sunday that Mr Tewatia’s actions were “politically motivated” and that he had been active in every clash between the administration and the farmers. The state government too accused Mr Tewatia of harbouring “political ambitions”.
Lending a bizarre twist to the ongoing tale of spreading violence, the Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday denied that the violence in Greater Noida was related to land acquisition. State cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh accused “anti-social elements” of instigating farmers for political reasons. Mr Singh even said that Sunday’s violence in Agra and Aligarh was not related to the incidents in Greater Noida and should not be linked to land acquisition.
The official also said the process for land acquisition in the Bhatta Parsaul villages had started in March 2009. “Nearly 178 hectares had been acquired in Bhatta and `120 crores paid as compensation, whereas 260 hectares was acquired in Parsaul and a sum of `180 crores was paid to farmers. The acquisition was done for the normal development process with the approval of the concerned farmers,” he explained.
UP chief minister Mayawati too came out with a statement on Sunday calling on the Opposition parties to behave in a “mature” manner. “The Opposition parties should act maturely and should take (in) all information before issuing statements against the government so that people don’t react to their propaganda. This might create law and order problems,” the CM said.
In view of Sunday’s violent clashes between the farmers and men belonging to the Provincial Armed Constabulary at Bhatta Parasul, these villages were swarming with police personnel on Sunday, with senior officers camping there. The police said, though, that most of those involved in Saturday’s clashes were absconding from the area.
UP director-general of police Karamvir Singh told reporters on Sunday that Mr Tewatia was not even an affected party in the land acquisition as he did not own any land in the Bhatta Parsaul area. He appeared to be politically motivated as he was making his presence felt in every clash between the administration and farmers, be it in Tappal, Mathura or Bhatta Parsaul, the DGP said.
With the state government gunning for Mr Tewatia, the Noida police, in a press release on Sunday, said it had specific information that was mobilising mobs and was also involved in providing arms to youths to create some disturbances.
UP special DGP (law and order) Brij Lal said in Lucknow that so far 22 persons had been arrested over Saturday’s violence. The farmers have been agitating since January 17 for better compensation for their land acquired by the Uttar Pradesh government.