Varanasi, May 19: Congress president Sonia Gandhi today lashed out at the Mayawati government alleging that the"re was a conspiracy to "grab land" across Uttar Pradesh by "misusing" government machinery.
She posed the question "why this loot is taking place and for whom? Is this all for just for the handful people? How can we tolerate this. We will never tolerate this at all,” she said.
“Any progress that causes problems to the people is meaningless. The party had always struggled for the interest of aam adami and will continue to do so in the future,” she said.
Sonia Gandhi condemned what she called the "barbaric" attack on the farmers of Bhatta-Parsole villages in the name of land acquisition.
With the Central government coming under attack over delay in adopting a refurbished land acquisition law, Sonia Gandhi said a bill in this regard would be tabled in Parliament in the next session.
She was addressing the two-day UPCC state-level convention here.
Sonia Gandhi then lashed out at the BJP on the issue of corruption. She said, the UPA government has taken the harshest measures possible against persons charged of corruption. "Can the NDA say what steps it took against the corrupt when it was in power?", she asked
Gandhi further said that the recent Assembly elections have shown that the Congress has gained, whereas the BJP which claims to be a national party got hardly five seats in the recent Assembly elections.
The issues of land acquisition law and suitable compensation for farmers came into prominence after the recent violence in two Greater Noida villages of Uttar Pradesh when two farmers and two policemen were killed in clashes.
The BSP, which runs the government in Uttar Pradesh, and other opposition parties have hit back at the Congress-led UPA government accusing it of failure to legislate on the issue.
Gandhi asked Congress workers to go to the people and fight unitedly for their problems. “I am sure victory will be ours in UP as well. Congress party has always upheld your trust,” she added.
Sonia said that realising the problems of the weavers, the UPA government has given a special package of Rs 3000 crore and reduced the excise duty on silk industry from 30 per cent to 5 per cent.
“The UPA government has also given a special package of more than Rs 7,000 crore for the development of backward Bundelkhand region,” she said.
“It is important that the state government instead of creating hurdles should utilise the fund provided by the Centre properly,” Sonia added.
She said that it was unfortunate that in the last 20 years in UP, which once gave direction and leadership to the country, caste and religion politics had taken centre stage instead of development issue.
“Today there is misrule in the state and there is no one to hear the pain of the people,” she said.
Citing right to education and a scheme launched for empowerment of girls in the age group of 11 to 18 years, the Congress president said that the party chalked out and launched historic programmes keeping in view interests of all section of the society.
