Sign that Gujarat’s people want change: Kejriwal on AAP’s Narmada panchayat win
'Spark' ignited by tribal voters in district will spread across state ahead of 2027 polls, says AAP national convener
Addressing a public rally in Rajpipla on Monday, Kejriwal said that Gujarat had, for decades, remained “trapped” between the BJP and Congress. (file) Accusing the BJP and Congress of being “partners in looting Gujarat,” Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Monday thanked voters in the tribal-dominated Narmada district for helping the party secure control of the district panchayat – calling the victory the beginning of a political “revolution” that would “spread across Gujarat ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections”.
Addressing a public rally in Rajpipla on Monday, Kejriwal said that Gujarat had, for decades, remained “trapped” between the BJP and Congress, whom he accused of secretly working together while pretending to be rivals in public. Kejriwal said, “People used to say that no third party could survive in Gujarat. But for the first time, the people of Narmada have brought in a third party… This shows that the people of Gujarat want change. What the people of Narmada district have shown today, tomorrow the whole of Gujarat will show.”
Projecting the Narmada victory as a symbolic breakthrough in Gujarat’s tribal belt, Kejriwal said the “spark” ignited by tribal voters in the district would spread across the state.
In a sharp attack on both BJP and Congress, Kejriwal alleged that the BJP and Congress routinely supported each other during elections by informally sharing candidates in areas where one side lacked organisational strength. Kejriwal alleged, “They have brotherhood between them, joint businesses, even family relations… During these panchayat elections, BJP leaders themselves said that wherever Congress did not have candidates, ‘We gave them candidates.’ The Congress also said that wherever they did not have candidates, BJP gave them candidates. Together they are looting Gujarat.”
Kejriwal also referred to AAP tribal leader Chaitar Vasava, accusing the BJP government of “targeting opposition voices through arrests and intimidation”. He claimed that the Narmada verdict was a “strong slap” on the BJP after Vasava was jailed for several days. “For 30 years, BJP’s corruption and oppression have caused so many atrocities.
Whoever they catch, they put in jail, they frighten people, threaten them, file false cases… If someone has to go to jail, Congress leaders do not go to jail – he is your leader, (AAP’s) Chaitar Vasava, who goes to jail. This time, by electing AAP in Narmada district, after they kept Chaitar Vasava in jail for many days, you people have delivered a strong slap on the face of BJP – the entire tribal community has slapped BJP in the face.
Urging newly elected local representatives to govern honestly, Kejriwal said the Narmada District Panchayat administration would now be closely watched across Gujarat and the country. “People have trusted us. We must work honestly and serve them well so that the whole state talks about the work done in Narmada,” he said.
Kejriwal is on a three-day visit to Gujarat. At the event, AAP MLA Chaitar Vasava also told the gathering that AAP had managed to “win seats in Statue of Unity”, which indicates the “unhappiness of tribals with the BJP.”
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