Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP in Gujarat of harshly suppressing farmers and warned that the party’s three-decade rule could collapse as Congress’s did after the 1980s farmers’ uprising. In a video posted on X, the Aam Aadmi Party chief invoked the 1985–87 episode when Congress won overwhelmingly but later faced a powerful farmers’ movement that the party tried to crush, only to be voted out thereafter. Kejriwal said the BJP’s current conduct mirrored that of earlier arrogance and predicted a similar public backlash.
Kejriwal pointed to a recent mahapanchayat in Hadad village of Botad district on October 12 as evidence of farmers’ grievances being ignored. He described two central demands raised by the aggrieved cultivators: an end to the “karda pratha” practice, which they say allows traders to pay the correct price for only part of their produce while shortchanging the remainder, and a demand that APMC mandis allow traders to buy produce directly at the market so farmers are not forced to send goods to distant factories or warehouses and bear transport costs.
Condemning the state administration’s response, Kejriwal said police used force against unarmed villagers during the mahapanchayat. He alleged that authorities resorted to baton charges and tear gas, and that FIRs were filed against about 85 farmers, with some even booked under attempt-to-murder sections. He warned that such punitive measures risk criminalising legitimate protest and could be replicated against others unless farmers unite.
Kejriwal framed his remarks as a call for solidarity among Gujarat’s agricultural communities. He urged farmers to come together and press for collective remedies rather than face isolated reprisals. Recalling the historical lesson he cited, he argued that prolonged arrogance by a ruling party eventually provokes popular revolt and electoral overturn, and he urged farmers to prepare to reclaim power through unity and organised action.
The AAP leader linked the Botad protests to a broader narrative about governance and accountability, suggesting that long incumbencies breed complacency and disconnect from grassroots problems. He used the example of past political upheaval to remind voters that electoral fortunes can reverse rapidly when citizens feel their livelihoods are threatened and their grievances are met with force instead of dialogue.
Kejriwal’s intervention has turned the local agricultural dispute into a wider political flashpoint. His remarks add pressure on the Gujarat administration to address the specific mandi and pricing complaints while also intensifying debate on how state governments respond to peaceful mass protests by farmers and other vulnerable groups.
