New Delhi, May 12
With elections to the UP Assembly barely a year away, the week-long farmers’ agitation in Greater Noida against acquisition of their land seems to have come in handy to politicians of all hues to suddenly raise political temperature in the sweltering dry heat of western UP.

After AICC general secretaries Rahul Gandhi and Digvijay Singh successfully broke the police cordon and sneaked into Bhatta Parsaul yesterday, joining the farmers’ and later courting arrest, it was the turn of the BJP today to do an encore.

Former BJP president Rajnath Singh relocated himself in his parliamentary constituency Ghaziabad today and staged a dharna along with Arun Jaitley and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in protest against UP administration’s “brutal suppression” of farmers’ agitation. They were later arrested by the district administration. LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan and BKU leader Rakesh Tikait also reached the spot.

The Congress, in fact, tried to spread its agitation to the whole of Uttar Pradesh with reports of party state president Rita Bahuguna Joshi as also other state Congress leaders leading agitation and courting arrest in different parts of the state.

But the main offensive against Mayawati’s BSP government was fired by the leading Congress/UPA government lights from the National Capital, with Home Minister P Chidambaram, Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed and Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni targeting Mayawati and her administration.

Simultaneously from the Congress headquarters, 26, Akbar Road, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh trained his guns at Mayawati, calling her a “dictator” and demanding a judicial inquiry into the alleged police brutalities in Bhatta Parsaul.

Digvijay Singh, while insisting that the number of those killed in the agitation was much higher than three, as mentioned by the administration, demanded a judicial probe into the firing, withdrawal of all cases against the farmers and return of the land acquired from them at throwaway prices.

Union Minister Salman Khurshid felt Mayawati had become “jittery and losing sleep” over the overwhelming response Rahul Gandhi got yesterday. Ambika Soni added, “All these days when other leaders were going to the spot, Mayawati did not react, though she should have spoken and done something as soon as the agitation was launched. But Rahul’s popularity has rattled her and that is why she has responded so bitterly.”

Home Minister P Chidambaram described the state of law and order in UP as not a “happy situation”, and listed the shortcomings in Mayawati’s handling of the farmers’ protests. However, he dismissed suggestions of sending a Central team to assess the situation.

Similarly, the BJP reacted strongly to the arrest of Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, calling Maywati regime as dictatorial, demanding her resignation and vowing to continue its protest irrespective of “repression”.

Meanwhile, veteran BJP leader LK Advani attempted to drown the differences between the Congress and the BJP at least on this issue. Asked about Rahul Gandhi’s dharna and whether he felt that the Congress and the BSP were hand-in-glove as Gandhi was allowed to reach Bhatta Parsaul village, Advani said, “Whoever is supporting the cause of farmers is doing a good deed.”