Chhota Udepur: The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Tribal Department on Sunday organized a massive Jan Aakrosh Sabha at Kawant under the leadership of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee GPCC President Amit Chavda. Thousands of tribal men, women, youth and party workers gathered to raise their voice for rights, justice and protection of tribal communities across the state.
Addressing the gathering, Amit Chavda accused the government of adopting “anti-tribal policies” and alleged that fundamental rights over land, forest and water are being taken away from tribal communities. He said that employment opportunities in tribal areas remain negligible, and basic services like health and education are in a poor state. “In the name of development, tribals are being exploited,” he said.
Chavda also made serious allegations of corruption, claiming that postings in border-area police stations are being sold for lakhs of rupees, and crores collected every month are routed “all the way to Gandhinagar”. He added that the government has failed to ensure timely availability of fertilizers for farmers, forcing them to stand in long queues across villages. “Liquor and drugs are home-delivered in Gujarat, but farmers do not get fertilizer for agriculture,” he said, declaring that “in 2027, farmers will send this government home.”
Chavda further alleged that during the BJP rule, even basic services like caste certificates are difficult for tribal citizens to obtain. He said that caste-based marking in GPSC examinations has caused injustice to OBC, SC, and ST students. He accused the government of encouraging black marketing of fertilizers and claimed that double rates are being charged despite severe shortages.
He criticised the administration for exploiting youth through fixed-pay, contract and outsourcing systems, and asserted that corruption has become so deep-rooted that “no work gets done in any department without money”. He alleged that the flourishing liquor and drug trade continues because of political protection, and said that after Congress raised these issues, “the CM and Deputy CM have lost sleep because they fear Congress will stop the flow of illegal money used for elections.”
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Dr. Tushar Chaudhary, also addressed the gathering, reminding that it was earlier Congress governments that granted tribals their fundamental rights to water, land, forest resources and education. He alleged that the BJP government has continuously harassed the tribal community and snatched away their rights. Referring to projects like the Statue of Unity and development works in South Gujarat’s tribal belts, he said that land and basic rights of tribal residents are being taken away “in the name of development”.
The event saw the presence of several prominent leaders including Dr. Tushar Chaudhary, co-incharge B.V. Srinivas, MLAs Jignesh Mevani, Anant Patel, Kantibhai Kharadi, Congress Seva Dal National President Lalji Desai, ST Department Chairman Raju Pardhi, former MLAs, senior leaders, district-taluka office-bearers and a large number of supporters.
