Former Prime Minister VP Singh was leading a farmers’ rally to protest against the allotment of over 2,500 acres of land to Reliance Energy.
LUCKNOW: Former Prime Minister VP Singh and Jan Morcha leader Raj Babbar were arrested along with senior CPI leader AB Bardhan by the Uttar Pradesh police on the Delhi-Ghaziabad border on Thursday afternoon.
They were leading a farmers’ march to Dadri in Ghaziabad to protest against the allotment of over 2,500 acres of land at allegedly “throwaway prices” to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Energy for setting up a power plant there.
Lok Janashakti MP and Central Minister Ram Bilas Pawan’s brother, Ramchandra Paswan, and Justice Party president Udit Raj besides hundreds of farmers and activists participating in the march were also taken into custody. However, Home Secretary Satish Agarwal told reporters in Lucknow that only 95 people had been detained. The detenus were let off later in the evening.
The state government had banned Jan Morcha’s Dadri march and enforced prohibitory orders in the area. Jan Morcha had mounted a similar protest on July 7 and at that time, too, the former PM and Raj Babbar had been arrested at the same spot.
The latest Jan Morcha protest may not have achieved decisive results but the ‘Raja of Manda’ (VP Singh) has highlighted the farmers’ plight in UP. The ex-PM has been raising farmers’ issues in his frequent rallies throughout the state. The move is calculated to hurt Mulayam Singh Yadav’s ‘son-of-the-soil’ image in the coming state elections.
What is particularly worrying for Mulayam is that Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), a partner in government, is supporting VP Singh on the Dadri issue. In fact, Ajit Singh recently went a step further announcing at a public function in Lucknow that he might not be part of the alliance in the next elections.
West UP Jat farmer leader Mahendra Singh Tikait, who leads the formidable Bharatiya Kisan Union, has also jumped on to the VP bandwagon. Sharad Pawar’s NCP has announced support to the ‘Raja’, too. Besides, support from Maulana Bukhari’s United Democratic Front (UDF), and the People’s Democratic Front (PDF) headed by much-respected Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad is also likely to dent Mulayam’s minority votebank.
Though even Jan Morcha leaders agree they might not get many seats in the coming state elections, the “VP factor” promises to affect Mulayam’s electoral calculations.
Political watchers recall the early 90s when VP Singh similarly riled the Narasimha Rao regime. At that time, a senior political commentator wrote: “The Raja not only refuses to go away but keeps coming back like a bad toothache.”
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