Kejriwal Slams BJP in Gujarat Farmers’ Mahapanchayat, Says “This Time the Tyrant Government Must Go” (Image Source: Top Indian News/ Press Release)
New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal, national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party, said on Friday at a large farmers’ meeting in Sudamada village, Surendranagar district, that the BJP is a cruel and tyrannical government in Gujarat and that this time the party must leave power. He said the BJP has become a burden on Gujarat and that all Gujaratis will together remove that burden in this election. Kejriwal said the state government has jailed 85 farmers who were asking for their rights. He said it pains the land of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to see this. The party wanted to honor family members of jailed farmers on stage, but police removed them. Kejriwal also accused Harsh Sanghvi of ordering lathi charges on farmers and said the BJP insulted the Patel community by making Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel a “dummy CM” and elevating Harsh Sanghvi to the role of a de facto super CM. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and other senior leaders were present.
Addressing the crowd in Sudamada, Kejriwal noted that 31 October marks the 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He called Patel a lion of Gujarat and India and said Patel fought many farmer struggles in India’s history. Kejriwal mentioned Patel’s role in the Kheda movement (1918) and Bardoli satyagraha (1928), when the British accepted the farmers’ demands. He argued that when Patel led those movements, the British never used lathi charges, tear gas, false FIRs, or mass arrests under Section 307.
Kejriwal said Patel would be saddened to see how, a hundred years later, a harsh and oppressive BJP government in independent India is lathi-charging farmers, using tear gas, filing false Section 307 cases and jailing them for demanding their rights. He repeated that 85 farmers have been jailed merely for fighting for their rights.
Kejriwal said the AAP had invited jailed farmers’ families to the meeting and planned to honor them on stage, but police removed them from the stage. He said this was shameful and that AAP stands with those families. He promised to use top lawyers to get each jailed farmer released. Kejriwal referred to recent incidents in North Gujarat where pastoralist farmers were tear-gassed and beaten, and false cases were filed. He also said AAP MLA Chaitar Vasava, who spoke up for tribal people, was jailed on false charges by the Gujarat government.
Kejriwal said Gujaratis have not seen such a cruel and arrogant government in the last 75 years. He said farmers are asking to end the “karda” practice and to get promised MSP — promises that were made when the BJP formed the central government but remain unfulfilled. He accused police of entering farmers’ homes and beating their children. While BJP leaders celebrated Diwali at home, jailed farmers’ families cried at home, he said. AAP stands with every farmer family, he added.
Will AAP go to jail to secure farmers’ rights?
Kejriwal shared a story of a jailed farmer’s mother who said her son is fighting for poor farmers’ freedom and that police beat him. Kejriwal told her not to worry and promised AAP’s support. He said he would go to jail first if needed — “Kejriwal will go to jail before I ask farmers to be beaten,” he said, pledging to stand with farmers even at the cost of imprisonment.
Kejriwal said Gujarat’s farmers voted for the BJP many times in the past 30 years, but they did not vote to have their children jailed. He said the BJP has grown arrogant and that farmers are now very angry. He called BJP leaders cowards for hiding behind the police. Kejriwal warned that if BJP stops relying on police, farmers will chase and punish those leaders and there will be no safe shelter for them.
Kejriwal criticized the BJP for being weak before world leaders like former US President Trump. He said BJP quickly follows Trump’s demands on trade and oil, while at home they show force against poor farmers. He challenged BJP to show the same courage against foreign pressure rather than using force on farmers.
Kejriwal accused Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghvi of ordering farmers’ arrests, lathi charges, and false Section 307 cases, and he said BJP rewarded Sanghvi by making him deputy CM. He said seeing police beating farmers made him emotional, and warned BJP that its downfall in Gujarat has already begun. He compared the BJP’s arrogance to Congress’s past arrogance, which led to a violent incident where 14 farmers were killed and after which Congress never returned to power in Gujarat. He predicted a similar fate for the BJP — that the party will lose this time and won’t return for decades.
Kejriwal claimed the recent cabinet reshuffle after a bypoll showed BJP’s fear, but changing ministers isn’t enough — the whole government must change. He said CM Bhupendra Patel has been made a “dummy CM” and that it is actually Harsh Sanghvi who runs the state, which insults the Patel community.
Kejriwal charged that BJP and Congress are secretly linked in Gujarat — like a husband and wife running joint businesses — and that this is why Congress leaders are not jailed while only AAP leaders face arrests. He said there must be a “setting” between these parties that keeps the status quo.
Kejriwal summed up that AAP raises farmers’ voices while BJP uses lathis on them. He said BJP has become a burden on Gujarat and must be removed. He accused BJP leaders of benefiting and sending poor youth to jail while their own children study abroad. Kejriwal urged people to defeat the BJP across Gujarat in the coming assembly elections, like the bypoll result in Visavadar.
Kejriwal said many crops were damaged by abnormal rain. He noted that in Punjab, CM Bhagwant Mann paid ₹50,000 per hectare directly into farmers’ accounts within a month after floods. AAP demands Gujarat government pay ₹50,000 per hectare to farmers for ruined crops.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann spoke at the rally and condemned the BJP’s actions. He said those who file cases and jail farmers will have to answer for it and that the people will not be defeated. Mann reminded the crowd that Punjab feeds the nation with huge production of rice and wheat and other crops, and warned that when farmers are hurt they will teach a lesson because they are tied to the land.
Mann said he traveled by road from Rajkot and noticed bad roads and poor conditions. He said rains damaged crops but no compensation came. He compared Punjab’s quick relief payment after floods to Gujarat’s lack of action and urged the public to stand with farmers. Mann invoked heroes like Bhagat Singh and said the people will not accept a new kind of slavery where local rulers replace colonial rulers. He pledged AAP’s full support and urged people to use the AAP “broom” symbol to clean Gujarat of misrule.
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