A farmer at the land rally in Zikarpur, Aligarh district, on Tuesday. Picture by Prem Singh

Zikarpur (Aligarh), Aug. 17: The 168km-long Yamuna Express Highway, running above swathes of bajra and paddy fields, embodies an irony in more than one sense: to the relatively well-off peasants of west Uttar Pradesh, it is a curse that has overturned their lives. To the less advantaged farmers, it is a boon.

The contrasting responses work to Mayavati’s advantage because as long as she gets the votes of the boon-seeking Jatavs, she is comfortable. The richer Jats can scream but does the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) care? It never really got their votes nor does it hope to.

As every party feasts off the misery of the Jats, they feel politically orphaned because, barring Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Choudhary, they have no leader to claim as a parent.

Even Ajit has acquired the reputation of a “fair-weather” ally. In these “trying” times, they have adopted a new leader, far away from Uttar Pradesh.

She is Mamata Banerjee.

The 5,000 farmers who congregated under the concrete expanse of the highway today unanimously resolved to uphold her as their icon because she did something their leaders could never think of. “She uprooted the Tatas and threw them out of West Bengal,” said Ram Saran Arya, a former MLA of Ajit’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in his speech.

The Jaypee Group is to west Uttar Pradesh farmers what Tata was to those in Singur.

The Mayavati government outsourced the highway construction to this conglomerate that is primarily into real estate and hospitality.

The government facilitated the process by notifying the acquisition of 580 hectares in the districts of Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida and Greater Noida are part of it), Hathras, Aligarh and Mathura. The land acquisition would affect an unestimated number of farmers owning between two and 100 bighas (2.5 bighas equal a hectare), subject to three crop cycles every year. The land has not yet been taken over.

Section 4 of the state’s Land Acquisition Act empowers the government to appropriate land of any kind for the “greater public good”.

While the “public good” enshrined in the highway is super-fast connectivity of 90 minutes from New Delhi to Agra, and goodies along the way such as hi-tech hubs, educational institutes, hotels and malls, the farmers have questioned the compensation package of Rs 449 per square metre.

Mamata Banerjee

They dubbed it as “discriminatory” because those living in Noida and Greater Noida got Rs 850 per square metre.

“Our leaders are no good. Mamata Banerjee waged a successful battle in Nandigram and Singur and ensured the peasants kept their land. We want her to come here and show us the way. She is our only hope because she alone can vanquish that Surpanakha (Mayavati was compared to the much maligned character in Ramayana),” said Chaudhury Murari Lal, the movement’s convener in Mathura.

The protesters indicated if the pay-outs were negotiated on their terms, they might give up their land. But they rejected the upped rate of Rs 570 per square metre that Mayavati has offered. “Nothing less than Rs 1,200 will do,” said Lathi Singh.

H.P. Singh Parihar, the vice-president of the Jat reservation committee, said: “She (Mamata) is transparent and bold.” His only wish from Mamata was she should allow the central land acquisition bill to be passed. “She is very powerful and Sonia is scared of her,” said Parihar.

Over to Mamata.