Rahul Gandhi, Congress party secretary general, has accused the Uttar Pradesh government of state oppression and suggested it is responsible for raping and killing farmers who have been protesting for greater compensation for land sales to the state.
- Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
- Above, Mr. Gandhi pictured after his temporary detention on Wednesday.
This is Mr. Gandhi's strongest attack yet on the government of Chief Minister Mayawati, who faces re-election in 2012 and is a target of Congress, which wants to expand its presence in the massive state.
"There are quite severe atrocities taking place there. People have been killed, people have been raped," said Mr. Gandhi, speaking to reporters late Monday after meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.
Farmers in Greater Noida, just outside Delhi, have been demanding more money for land, where the state government plans to build a motorway connecting Delhi with Agra. Four people, including two policemen, are confirmed to have died in violent clashes.
But Mr. Gandhi, who visited the Prime Minister with a delegation of eight farmers, says the victims could be many more. He described 70-foot high heaps of ashes "with dead bodies inside," and volunteered to show pictures as proof of his allegations. Several Indian media outlets later carried the pictures.
Officials for the [...]
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