Amethi: Farmers in Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s parliamentary constituency Amethi shouted slogans against him on Wednesday demanding that either they are provided employment or the land that was given to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation should be returned to them. One of the protesters at Gauriganj town in Amethi district told ANI: ‘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.’
The Congress chief faced the ire of angry farmers during his visit to Amethi for campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
It is to be noted that Samrat Cycle factory was inaugurated by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi when he was the Lok Sabha MP from Amethi. Over 65.57 acres of land was acquired by Jain brothers in the 1980s in the industrial area of Kausar to run a company but the company failed to do good business and then a land auction took place in 2014.
The UP State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC) records show that 65.57 acres of land was leased to the company in 1986 but it was auctioned by the Debts Recovery Tribunal in 2014 at Rs. 20.10 crore after the closure of the company to recover the loan. The land purchased in the auction was paid by the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust for stamp duty of Rs. 1,50,000. But the UPSIDC then declared the land auction process as invalid after which a Gauriganj SDM Court ordered the return of the land of the Samrat Cycle Factory to UPSIDC. on papers, the land is with UPSIDC but is still occupied by the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust. Earlier, Union Minister Smriti Irani had also accused the Congress of grabbing the land of farmers through the foundation.