Local BJP leader who brokered Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s Mandsaur ‘deal’ is an opium smuggler

Opium smuggler Gunwant Patidar who is serving his jail term in a case of smuggling under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, worked as the peace broker of Shivraj Singh Chouhan during the Mandsaur farmers’ agitation in the month of June.

A local BJP leader and vice-chairman of the Mandsaur district panchayat, Gunwant Patidar, was assigned to strike a ‘deal’ between aggrieved farmers and the state government, after the government failed to reach out to the farmers.

“He brokered the deal by putting pressure on farmers to end the protest and accept hefty compensations,” farmer leader Shiv Kumar accusingly said over the phone. Gunwant Patidar, along with other BJP leaders, accompanied kin of farmers killed in the June 6 Mandsaur firing to meet Shivraj Singh Chouhan on June 10 when the CM sat on fast at the Dussehra ground in Bhopal.

A local BJP leader, who was in the know of the ‘deal’, told National Herald that the BJP leadership, in an attempt to defuse the rising resentment in the Patidar community against the government, roped in Gunwant.

In turn, Gunwant, along with other local BJP leaders from Patidar community, reportedly met one of the farmers’ families and persuaded them to meet the Chief Minister in Bhopal, claimed a local journalist. After the meeting, Chouhan ended his fast. Gunwant was captured standing close to the CM by the media.

“He is closely associated with the BJP and served as the representative of a powerful BJP MP in the past. BJP involved him in the deal to counter Hardik Patel’s influence in the community,” added Shiv Kumar over phone from Bhopal.

Known for his anti-BJP stance, the face of the Patidar Amanat Aandolan, Hardik Patel had criticised Shivraj for ‘behaving like a dictator.’ He was arrested when he tried to enter Mandsaur to meet farmers.

Former MLA from Ratlam, Paras Saklecha told National Hearald that Gunwant is just the tip of the iceberg. Demanding a CBI probe into the farmers’ deaths, he said that 50 per cent of the Sarpanchs associated with the BJP were involved in opium smuggling.“The BJP government executed targeted killing of the farmers who opposed opium smugglers,” he added.

Apart from five years of rigorous imprisonment, the court imposed a fine of ₹75,000 for transporting opium under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on Gunwant.Surprisingly, Gunwant, who was active in politics, tried to defend himself by moving an application in the court, stating that he was mentally unstable.

Quoting the public prosecutor, the local media reported that Gunwant tried to delay the proceedings by making a submission to the court that that he was suffering from a mental ailment. But the court didn’t consider his plea as it was not supported by appropriate evidences.

Bhopal-based observers feel that Gunwant Patidar’s five-year sentence is an embarrassment for the BJP and the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in particular. BJP government has been on the back foot since the June 2017 farmers’ agitation and death of six farmers in police firing.