Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi is undertaking the last stretch of his padyatra today, the fourth and last day of his walkathon that will eventually culminate in the maha-panchayat at Aligarh on Saturday.
Interacting with farmers at Devaka village, he said that he has not learnt as much in the Lok Sabha as he has learnt from the farmers.
"When we sit in Delhi or Lucknow, we don't get to know ground realities. I have not learnt as much in Lok Sabha as I learnt from you," Mr Gandhi said.
He spent the night at a famer's place in Maror-Garhi village in Aligarh district. Even there, he held a small gathering and spoke to the local villagers about their concerns.
The drama of Mr Gandhi's padayatra or march got a leg up on the third day courtesy a man with a revolver who was spotted worryingly close to the Congress General Secretary. The security scare, however, didn't make him miss a step in his walkathon in Uttar Pradesh. UP is being run by dalals (brokers), he said, a statement that is likely to incense Chief Minister Mayawati.
(Read: Uttar Pradesh being run by 'dalals': Rahul Gandhi)"All the farmers' land is being taken away. And this is happening because you are not united. That is the problem, the entire state is divided. 'Dalals' are running the state. You may not like it, but this is the truth," Mr Gandhi said.
The UP Police warned that Mr Gandhi and his security are ignoring basics. "We do not know the route he is taking, the places he is going to visit, the places where he is going to halt. So it is a free for all kind of a thing," said a senior police officer, identified as SSP Singh, to PTI.
(Read: After gun scare, UP police says Rahul's ignoring safety basics)The ruling BSP described Rahul Gandhi's statement that "dalals" were running Uttar Pradesh as childish, irresponsible and anti-dalit, and said that those running the central government are mired in scams and have no right to level baseless allegations.
"Every child in the country is aware of the scams of the central government and those running such a government have no right to raise a finger at the UP government," a BSP release said.
While the BSP is criticising the Congress leader, there are others who are bestowing praise upon Mr Gandhi for his efforts. Columnist Sudheendra Kulkarni gave a thumbs up to the young Gandhi scion for his efforts.
"I would say the exertions of Rahul Gandhi, of padyatra, is good for Indian democracy. For the first time he knows the conditions first hand, the real conditions of the people," he said.
Rahul Gandhi is walking through villages along the Yamuna Expressway; he is scheduled to arrive in Aligarh on Saturday to attend a maha-panchayat where farmers have been asked to share their views of UP's land acquisition policies. The state votes next year and Mr Gandhi's march unofficially launches the Congress' campaign and attempt to reclaim UP from Mayawati and her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Mayawati's government has been critical of Mr Gandhi's attempts to affiliate himself with farmers. He has spent three nights at different farmers' houses, and stops frequently to share a cup of tea with them as he tells them that their land "is being stolen" by a government that is bent on selling agricultural land to real estate developers. Farmers, he says, are the only party not making a profit.
The Supreme Court has agreed - at least in the case of close to 150 hectares of land that was taken from farmers in the Shahberi village of Grater Noida. The court has ordered the land be returned to the farmers. The Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority was indicted for taking the land for industry, but then transferring it to developers for residential projects. The judges said, "Everything is meticulously planned... it is a brazen overreach of the judicial process. The authority has to act in public interest but what it did was to serve private builders' interest. You don't understand the psyche of a farmer. Land is his mother."