UP government withdraws cases against Bhatta farmers

The Uttar Pradesh government has withdrawn cases registered against the farmers of Bhatta-Parsaul villages of Gautam Budh Nagar district in May 2011.

The Uttar Pradesh government has withdrawn cases registered against the farmers of Bhatta-Parsaul villages of Gautam Budh Nagar district in May 2011.

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“The state government has withdrawn in public interest the cases registered against the Bhatta-Parsaul farmers in May 2011. This will bring relief to a large number of innocent farmers,” said chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in a statement here.

“The Bahujan Samaj Party-led government had got the cases registered to perpetrate atrocities on the innocent farmers,” Yadav said.

He said while he had made a promise before the 2012 assembly elections that he would withdraw the fake cases against the farmers of Bhatta Parsaul. “By withdrawing the cases, we have fulfilled another election promise made to the people,” the UP chief minister said.

The Bhatta-Parsaul protests by farmers had become a major political issue after three people died, allegedly in police firing on the agitators. Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi had defied all police arrangements to reach the fortified Bhatta-Parsaul villages and met the farmers there. Later, the police had forced Rahul to leave the place, triggering high drama.

Yadav said the scrutiny of these cases revealed that the farmers were forced to agitate only due to non-payment of adequate compensation for acquisition of land.The state government has already withdrawn cases against the farmers of Tappal in Aligarh.