Gujarat farmers' leaders arrested ahead of rally to mark high-profile business summit in Gandhinagar

By A Representative
One day ahead of the high-profile Vibrant Gujarat investors’ summit, the Gujarat government has cracked down on the farmers’ leaders attached a non-political organization, planning to stage a symbolic protest rally in the outskirts of Gandhinagar. Their main demands a sharp increase in the minimum support price for cotton. Cotton prices have become a major cause of contention between the Gujarat government and the farmers, who, according to these leaders, are being forced to sell their price which is Rs 500 less than the input cost per 20 kg.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Sagar Rabari, leader of the Sanyukt Khedut Sangharsh Samiti, the joint action committee of three farmers’ organizations, formed for the organizing the protest rally, said, the “Gujarat government today held two of Saurashtra’s prominent farmer leaders – Shivlalbhai Vekaria and Chandubhai Shingala – along with many other farmers, into preventive detention.”
According to a spot-survey carried out by representative of the farmers’ organizations attached with the Sanyukt Khedut Sangharsh Samiti, as against the minimum support price of Rs 800, fixed by the Government of India for a 20-kg cotton bundle, the farmers are being forced to sell their produce in the open market for just Rs 650 or even less. The survey found that the input cost, on the other hand, for producing the cotton is more than Rs 1,150 (click HERE to read).
The state government, apparently, is not taking any chances on the opening day of the summit, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of United Nations secretary-general Ban K-moon, who will be delivering the keynote address. Among others, US secretary of state John Kerry will be present on the occasion, with a likely a defence deal offer with Modi.
Condemning the arrests as “unconstitutional” and “undemocratic”, Rabari said, “Ever since the announcement of the programme of organizing a rally by farmers the central intelligence bureau (IB) and local intelligence bureau (LIB) cops, as also police teams, began constantly tailing leaders of the Sanyukt Khedut Sangharsh Samiti. It was clearly evident that the state government would take all kinds of undemocratic and repressive measures to stop the farmers from carrying out their programme.”
Asking the “democratically-elected government to repose faith in democracy to let the farmers exercise their democratic right to voice their demands”, and “refrain from creating an environment of fear”, it said, apparently, the state government’s intentions appear different. “Rather than listening to the farmers’ agony and distress”, the statement alleged, the state government is “creating an environment of fear and terror, which cannot take the government very far.”
The statement wondered, “If people cannot take their woes to the government, then where will they go?” It added, “The government must come forward to forge a dialogue with the distressed farmers, otherwise the farmers know how to answer even this repression through democratic means.” It characterized the arrests as an “undemocratic, fascist step”.
The statement warned, “The farmers’ movement is not afraid of the repression. This is a farmers’ movement and not of the politicians. Farmers will reach the venue despite their leaders’ arrest”, suggesting, preparations are in full swing to reach the destination, Adalaj, where the rally is to take place, following which the farmers propose to march towards the place where the Vibrant Gujarat summit is being held – Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar.

Comments

Gujarat Information Commission issues warning against misinterpretation of RTI orders

By A Representative The Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) has issued a press note clarifying that its orders limiting the number of Right to Information (RTI) applications for certain individuals apply only to those specific applicants. The GIC has warned that it will take disciplinary action against any public officials who misinterpret these orders to deny information to other citizens. The press note, signed by GIC Secretary Jaideep Dwivedi, states that the Right to Information Act, 2005, is a powerful tool for promoting transparency and accountability in public administration. However, the commission has observed that some applicants are misusing the act by filing an excessive number of applications, which disproportionately consumes the time and resources of Public Information Officers (PIOs), First Appellate Authorities (FAAs), and the commission itself. This misuse can cause delays for genuine applicants seeking justice. In response to this issue, and in acc...

'MGNREGA crisis deepening': NSM demands fair wages and end to digital exclusions

By A Representative The NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM), a coalition of independent unions of MGNREGA workers, has warned that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is facing a “severe crisis” due to persistent neglect and restrictive measures imposed by the Union Government.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Gandhiji quoted as saying his anti-untouchability view has little space for inter-dining with "lower" castes

By A Representative A senior activist close to Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar has defended top Booker prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy’s controversial utterance on Gandhiji that “his doctrine of nonviolence was based on an acceptance of the most brutal social hierarchy the world has ever known, the caste system.” Surprised at the police seeking video footage and transcript of Roy’s Mahatma Ayyankali memorial lecture at the Kerala University on July 17, Nandini K Oza in a recent blog quotes from available sources to “prove” that Gandhiji indeed believed in “removal of untouchability within the caste system.”

Targeted eviction of Bengali-speaking Muslims across Assam districts alleged

By A Representative A delegation led by prominent academic and civil rights leader Sandeep Pandey visited three districts in Assam—Goalpara, Dhubri, and Lakhimpur—between 2 and 4 September 2025 to meet families affected by recent demolitions and evictions. The delegation reported widespread displacement of Bengali-speaking Muslim communities, many of whom possess valid citizenship documents including Aadhaar, voter ID, ration cards, PAN cards, and NRC certification.

Subject to geological upheaval, the time to listen to the Himalayas has already passed

By Rajkumar Sinha* The people of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, who have somehow survived the onslaught of reckless development so far, are crying out in despair that within the next ten to fifteen years their very existence will vanish. If one carefully follows the news coming from these two Himalayan states these days, this painful cry does not appear exaggerated. How did these prosperous and peaceful states reach such a tragic condition? What feats of our policymakers and politicians pushed these states to the brink of destruction?

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Rally in Patna: Non-farmer bodies to highlight plight of agriculture in Eastern India ahead of march to Parliament

P Sainath By A Representative Ahead of the march to Parliament on November 29-30, 2018, organized by over 210 farmer and agricultural worker organisations of the country demanding a 21-day special session of Parliament to deliberate on remedial measures for safeguarding the interest of farm, farmers and agricultural workers, a mass rally been organized for November 23, Gandhi Sangrahalaya (Gandhi Museum), Gandhi Maidan, Patna. Say the organizers, the Eastern region merits special attention, because, while crisis of farmers and agricultural workers in Western, Southern and Northern India has received some attention in the media and central legislature, the plight of those in the Eastern region of the country (Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Eastern UP) has remained on the margins. To be addressed by P Sainath, founder of People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI), a statement issued ahead of the rally says, the Eastern India was the most prosperous regi...

'Centre criminally negligent': SKM demands national disaster declaration in flood-hit states

By A Representative The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) has urged the Centre to immediately declare the recent floods and landslides in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, and Haryana as a national disaster, warning that the delay in doing so has deepened the suffering of the affected population.

Counterview

Search This Blog