The farmers demanded that either their land that was given to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation should be returned to them or they should be provided employment
New Delhi: Farmers in Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s parliamentary constituency of Amethi, Uttar Pradesh staged a protest and raised slogans against him.
The farmers demanded that either their land that was given to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation should be returned to them or they should be provided employment.
Rahul was in Amethi to campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“We are very upset with Rahul Gandhi. He should go back to Italy. He does not deserve to be here. Rahul has grabbed our land," news agency ANI quoted a protestor as saying.
The farmers staged their protest near Samrat Cycle factory that was inaugurated by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi when he was the MP from Amethi.
In the 1980s, over 65.57 acres of land in the industrial area of Kausar was taken over by the Jain brothers to run a company. However, the plan was a failure and a land auction took place in 2014.
The land purchased in the auction was paid by the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust for stamp duty of Rs 1,50,000.
However, the land auction process was later deemed invalid following which, the land was ordered to be returned to the UPSIDC by a Gauriganj SDM court.
Since then the land is on papers with UPSIDC but is still occupied by the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust.
Union minister Smriti Irani had accused Rahul of grabbing land from the farmers through the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation when he promised to waive farmer loans in his election speeches.
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