In a mid-night swoop, Gujarat police arrest JAAG leader ahead of farmers' agitation on Dholera SIR

Dholera farmers' meet

By A Representative
Ahead of the proposed agitation against the Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR) on March 29, the Gujarat police in the wee hours of March 26 arrested one of the senior farmer leaders of the area, Rajbha Chudasma. A statement issued by Jamin Adhikar Andolan Gujarat (JAAG), which organized the agitation, called arrest as smacking of “political pressure to suppress a non-political movement”. To be implemented in the south of Ahmedabad in 22 villages encompassing 900 sq km, DSIR has been envisaged as a modern industrial township in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), but has invited farmers’ ire over Gujarat government decision to take away 50 per cent of the farmers’ land in the name of developing infrastructure.
JAAG said in a statement, “Rajbha Chudasma has been a prominent leader of the agitation. In a complete non-issue, the police have acted to arrest him. Since the matter was resolved and he was arrested after this on false charges, we are led to believe that this is being done at the behest of political masters who are threatened by the agitation.” It added, “We are of the firm conviction that this is being done to threaten the movement and the farmers before the sammelan of March 29, proving that the claims of the government are hollow and that a mere gathering of the farmers and dissenters can throw the government off-balance and scared.”
Demanding an independent inquiry into the matter, JAAG leaders Pradhyumansinh Chudasma and Sagar Rabari have written a letter to Chief Electoral Officer, Gujarat State, Anita Karwal demanding “an independent inquiry into the incident to ascertain the truth of the matter”. Calling it a “serious malpractice”, JAAG leaders in the letter said, “Rajbha Chudasma is a farmer-leader spearheading the farmers’ struggle against the DSIR. On March 25, 2014 there was a minor altercation following a misunderstanding between two or three local communities. Chudasma, being a respected leader of the area, intervened in the matter and effected a compromise, and the matter was amicably resolved.”
Despite this, the letter said, “On the morning of March 26, 2014, around 3 am the police arrived at his house and arrested him on false charges and took him to the Dhandhuka Police Station. He has since been kept there. This is a non-political struggle that Chudasma is part of, and we suspect that he has been implicated by the police, which are acting on orders of some political leaders. Otherwise, there was no reason to arrest him at all. We suspect this to be a political ploy to intimidate and threaten Chudasma and the farmers of the area and to suppress the farmers’ movement.”
The letter wants Karwal to “find out where, why and from whom the orders for the arrest were given”. JAAG sources say, this is not for the first time that its leaders were tried to be browbeaten. On several occasions in the past, whenever they wished to go ahead with an agitation, the police swooped on them and arrested them. On February 9 this year, about 100 farmers, including leaders Chudasma, Rajbha Chudasma, Sagar Rabari and Lalji Desai and senior activist Indukumar Jani were detained for starting an agitation at Sandhila village in Dholera SIR.
Dholera is not the only area where JAAG is being targeted. This has happened during its opposition to another special investment region (SIR), being planned in North Gujarat, too. On August 15, 2013, the police cancelled the permission granted for the flag hoisting at the last minute to the protesting villagers in the Mandal-Bechraji SIR area. On October 23, 2013 the permission for the cattle rally from Hansalpur to Gandhinagar was denied to the protesting Maldharis. And on January 18, 2014 the cattle rally by the maldharis was stopped by the police, they were beaten with lathis and had cases registered against them.

If in Dholera farmers want the SIR to be cancelled, even as demanding permanent cancellation of the order which seeks to decommand the Narmada command in 22 villages where the DSIR is being implemented, in Mandal-Bhechraji it is against Maruti, which has deprived poor farmers and cattle breeding maldharis of their land.

Comments

When democracy becomes a performance: The Tibetan exile experience

By Tseten Lhundup* I was born in Bylakuppe, one of the largest Tibetan settlements in southern India. From childhood, I grew up in simple barracks, along muddy roads, and in fields with limited resources. Over the years, I have watched our democratic system slowly erode. Observing the recent budget session of the 17th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, these “democratic procedures” appear grand and orderly on the surface, yet in reality they amount to little more than empty formalities. The parliamentarians seem largely disconnected from the everyday struggles faced by ordinary exiled Tibetans like us.

Study links sanctions to 500,000 deaths annually leading to rise in global backlash

By Bharat Dogra International opinion is increasingly turning against the expanding burden of sanctions imposed on a growing number of countries. These measures are contributing to humanitarian crises, intensifying domestic discord, and heightening international tensions, thereby increasing the risks of conflicts and wars.

Dhurandhar: The Revenge — Blurring the line between fiction and political narrative

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan* "Dhurandhar: The Revenge" does not wait to be remembered; it arrives almost on the heels of its predecessor, released on March 19, 2026, just months after the first film’s December 2025 debut. The speed of its arrival feels less like creative urgency and more like calculated timing—cinema responding not to storytelling rhythm but to the emotional climate of its audience. Director Aditya Dhar, along with actor Yami Gautam, appears acutely aware of this moment and how to harness it.

Beyond the island: Top mythologist reorients the geography of the Ramayana

By Jag Jivan In a compelling new analysis that challenges conventional geographical assumptions about the ancient epic, writer and mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik has traced the roots of the Ramayana to the forests and river systems of Central and Eastern India, rather than the peninsular south or the modern island nation of Sri Lanka.

BJP accounts for 99% of political donations in Gujarat: Corporate giants dominate

By Jag Jivan An analysis of the official data on donations received by national parties from Gujarat during the Financial Year 2024-25 reveals a staggering concentration of funding, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accounting for nearly the entirety of the contributions. The data, compiled in a document titled "National Parties donations received from Gujarat during FY-2024-25," lists thousands of transactions, painting a detailed picture of the financial backing for political parties from one of India’s most industrially significant states.

Alarming decline in India's repair culture threatens circular economy goals: Study

By Jag Jivan A comprehensive new study by environmental research and advocacy organisation Toxics Link has painted a worrying picture of India's fading repair culture, warning that the trend towards replacement over repair is accelerating the country's already critical e-waste crisis.

Captains extraordinaire: Ranking cricket’s most influential skippers

By Harsh Thakor* Ranking the greatest cricket captains is a subjective exercise, often sparking passionate debate among fans. The following list is not merely a tally of wins and losses; it is an assessment of leadership’s deeper impact. My criteria fuse a captain’s playing record with their tactical skill, placing the highest consideration on their ability to reshape a team’s fortunes and inspire those around them. A captain who inherited a dominant empire is judged differently from one who resurrected a nation’s cricket from the doldrums. With that in mind, here is my perspective on the finest leaders the game has ever seen.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

‘No merit’ in Chakraborty’s claims: Personal ethics talk sans details raises questions

By Jag Jivan A recent opinion piece published in The Quint by Subhash Chandra Garg has raised questions over the circumstances surrounding the resignation of Atanu Chakraborty from HDFC Bank , with Garg stating that the exit “raises doubts about his own ‘ethics’.” Garg, currently Chief Policy Advisor at Subhanjali and former Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India, writes that the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI ) appears to find no substance in Chakraborty’s claims, noting, “It is clear the RBI sees no merit in Atanu Chakraborty’s wild and vague assertions.”

Search This Blog