Twenty-four hours after being subject to police detention and a violent attack on his car, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal said Gujarat’s so-called development had benefited only industrialists like Adanis and Ambanis.
Speaking to a gathering in Gandhidham, less than 50 km from the Kutch district quarters of Bhuj, Mr. Kejriwal said the Gujarat model of development tom-tommed by Narendra Modi was all “ bakwas (nonsense)”.
He referred to the villagers he met in Mundra, where the home-grown Adani Group has set up India’s largest private port and special economic zone (SEZ), and alleged they were paid only Rs 90,000 per acre for their land but the market rate was between Rs 50 lakh to Rs one crore.
“Government land was doled out to the Adanis for merely one to two rupees per acre. This is nothing but anti-farmer policy,” alleged Mr. Kejriwal on the second day of his four-day Gujarat visit to “study” the Gujarat model.
Mr. Kejriwal also mentioned the attack on his car by unidentified persons last night, but said they could join him. “We welcome everybody, even those who have attacked us. They don’t know the reality. Gradually as they understand, and they too will join us.”
“People are fed up of Modi. When we asked why did they elect him thrice as CM, they said Modi was good at crushing the opposition with money power,” he said, while denouncing “rampant corruption and poor implementation of prohibition policy” in Gujarat.
