Kejriwal says Gujarat govt stopped him from meeting jailed farmers

Questioning the Gujarat government’s handling of recent farmer arrests, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday (December 9, 2025) alleged that officials denied him permission to meet detained farmers and party workers in Rajkot.

Mr. Kejriwal said he had applied in advance to visit the prisoners, who include 46 of the 88 individuals arrested in October after protests in Haddad village of Botad district. “I was not allowed to meet farmers and farmer leaders at the Rajkot Jail. Am I a terrorist or a criminal?” he asked at a press conference, adding that those in custody were ordinary citizens exercising their rights.

He remarked that even during the freedom struggle, revolutionaries were not completely cut off from visitors.

He charged that the current administration had behaved in a manner “far harsher than what our freedom fighters could have imagined from an independent Indian government.”

Mr. Kejriwal, who travelled across Gujarat during the day, also alleged that the arrested farmers were denied food and drinking water for an entire day after being taken into custody. “Their families told me they were assaulted inside the lockup. Is the BJP trying to crush their spirit? Even mythological villains were known for arrogance. The families who came to meet me did so despite immense pressure,” he said.

He went on to criticise the state dispensation for failing to rein in the drug crisis and for repeated exam paper leak scandals. “Drugs are easily available across the state. Students’ futures are at risk and households are being destroyed. Thirty years of this government is enough—people now want change,” he said.

Positioning AAP as the only credible alternative to both the BJP and the Congress, whom he accused of working hand in glove, Kejriwal claimed the ruling party was misusing police machinery to intimidate critics. “They have filed false cases against many. I have been jailed myself. They may target you as well. But the day a new government comes to power, all fabricated FIRs will be cancelled within a day, and those responsible for harassing ordinary citizens will face action,” he said.