Farmers not getting water for irrigation, fair price for crops in Gujarat: Kejriwal

Farmers in BJP-ruled Gujarat don’t get water for irrigation or a fair price for their produce and are thrown into jail if they raise their voice, AAP leader and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday.

Addressing farmers at the ‘Parivartan Lao, Kisan Bachao' rally, he also claimed he was jailed despite being a sitting CM for raising his voice against corruption. However, the court said there is no case against him, the AAP leader claimed, referring to his recent discharge in the Delhi excise policy case. The BJP said he was a thief but the courts exonerated him, stating there is no evidence to prosecute him in the case, the AAP leader added.

“The BJP Government committed atrocities against farmers in Gujarat by throwing them in jail at Haddad in Botad district last year for raising their voice. The farmers of Gujarat are crying tears of blood. In some places, there’s no drinking water, in others, no irrigation water. Prices are capped, and farmers don’t get fair prices for their crops,” he said.

The BJP has been in power for 30 years, but they’ve done nothing in these 30 years, and farmers must take a pledge to throw the party out of power, Kejriwal said. “In the upcoming 2027 elections, do not change the party, change the system. They plead with you for votes during the election, then kick you out after winning the polls. The Botad protest was about the BJP Government sending a message to farmers of Gujarat that anyone who raises his voice will face this situation,” Kejriwal claimed.

Whenever AAP leaders raised their voice against corruption, they were jailed, he alleged. “These people put me in jail for six months. Never before in 75 years of India’s independence has a sitting CM been thrown into jail.  They arrested five big leaders of our party. These people searched everywhere but did not find a single penny. If a sitting chief minister is picked up and thrown in jail, then what is the status of common citizens,” he questioned while slamming the BJP.

The people of Delhi faced the same situation as Gujarat as they had to decide between just two parties (referring to BJP and Congress), he pointed out.

“The voters then decided that they will form a people’s government and in 2015 did so. The people of Delhi made me chief minister and I did all the things they asked me to do. My government made electricity and water free, built excellent schools and hospitals and Mohalla clinics that provide the best health care system for free,” he claimed.

In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party defeated the Congress, BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal, came to power and implemented similar welfare schemes, he said.

“We made Bhagwant Mann, a farmer’s son, the Chief Minister of Punjab. The Punjab government has announced that Rs 1,000 will be given to every woman every month. Shouldn’t such work be done in Gujarat? I was put in jail because the Aam Aadmi Party is doing such work,” he said.

In the 2022 assembly elections, the people of Gujarat elected five AAP MLAs, and if AAP continues this way, it will form the government in 2027, Kejriwal added.

“That is why these people (BJP) want to stop me and are making various allegations against me, including the liquor scam. They stole power in Delhi by putting me in jail. BJP says all over the country that Gujarat is progressing, but today the farmers of Gujarat are not progressing, the youth are not progressing. Only BJP and Congress leaders are progressing in Gujarat,” Kejriwal asserted.

There are several MLAs in Gujarat who have assets worth more than Rs 100 crore but till yesterday were riding around on scooters, he alleged.

He also targeted Union Home Minister Amit Shah for making his son Jay BCCI secretary and then ICC chief “instead of selecting someone from the two-crore youth of Gujarat or the 40-crore youth of the country”.

“This time, not a double-engine but a multiple-engine government will be formed in Gujarat. This time, Gujarat will become a farmer’s engine, a women’s engine, a youth engine and all six-crore people of Gujarat will become six crore engines of Gujarat,” Kejriwal said.