Lucknow, July 9 (IANS) Dismissing Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s campaign against takeover of farmers' lands in Uttar Pradesh as "politically motivated", Chief Minister Mayawati claimed her revised land acquisition policy to be the “most farmer-friendly in the entire country".


She enumerated how her new policy has taken care to do away with the government’s role in land acquisition for private purposes - be it for a builder, developer or an industrialist.

Through an official statement issued here, Mayawati sought to give the finer details of her revised land acquisition policy.

“It was for the first time in the country that farmers were given the freedom to negotiate their own terms for acquisition by a private party, who had been bound to not only pay the negotiated market rate but also shell out an annuity for 30 years, besides a number of other benefits to the farmer,” she said.

She challenged Rahul Gandhi to visit Congress ruled states like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh where she said farmers had been reduced to paupers due to the anti-farmer land acquisition policies of the state governments.

Referring to Gandhi sarcastically as 'yuvraj' (prince), Mayawati termed as "utter gimmick" his forays into Dalit homes, where he spent the past few nights bypassing all security protocol.

Mayawati reiterated, “The fact that he did not eat food in a Dalit’s home where he spent Friday night was in itself a proof of his caste prejudice.”

Gandhi’s claim that he avoided eating in that house because they were extremely poor people failed to impress her.

“I can see an anti-Dalit mindset behind his refusal to eat in that house which belonged to Uday Vir, who belongs to the lowest of the Dalit - ‘kanjar’ caste,” Mayawati said in a statement issued here Saturday.

Accusing the union government of meting out step-motherly treatment to her government, the chief minister said: “The manner in which Rahul Gandhi was busy playing up every incident of crime in Uttar Pradesh and the way the union government was seeking reports on each of these incidents reflects their prejudice against the state simply because it was under the rule of a Dalit woman.”

Citing glaring incidents of murders, rapes and other heinous crimes in Congress-ruled states, including Delhi, Mayawati sought to point out: “Whenever major crimes are reported in Congress-ruled states like Maharashtra, Haryana or Delhi, where rapes and crimes against women were rampant, the Congress-led centre never bothers to seek a report or even expresses concern, but even a single incident in UP is projected as the worst of all crimes.”

Gandhi held a 'kisan mahapanchayat' at Aligarh Saturday at the culmination of his four-day padyatra (march) through several Uttar Pradesh villages.