The ‘Gujarat model’ of corruption

Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda has been on the move with the party’s Jan Akrosh Yatra to get a sense of the issues that people in Modi–Shah’s home state are facing. Excerpts from his conversation with Vishwadeepak:

What is the Jan Akrosh Yatra all about?

In Gujarat, the BJP has been in power for the past 35 years. When it won yet another term in 2022, people had hoped against hope that the state government, which had done little for the welfare of people in its previous terms, would finally deliver. That it would at the very least fulfil the promises it made on coming to power. After three years, those hopes too have been dashed.

When Messrs Modi and Shah moved to New Delhi in 2014, the BJP’s state leadership weakened. The bureaucrats started calling the shots, in cahoots with corrupt leaders. Corruption has become a BIG issue in the state.

The pattern is the same. The BJP government issues a tender. Bureaucrats approve it, a company owned by a BJP leader wins the bid. The bureaucrats get a cut. Everyone in power is happy and the cycle continues.

Earlier, as a Congress Legislature Party leader, I visited each and every block HQ and heard directly from the people. When I became PCC president in July 2025, I thought why not continue that programme? With that in mind, I decided to undertake a statewide tour. The ongoing Jan Akrosh Yatra is meant to reach out to the people, listen to their problems and find solutions, wherever possible.

The Yatra started on 4 November 2025 and covered 1,300 km in north Gujarat over 13 days. It then moved to Kheda district in central Gujarat and ended in Dahod, covering 1,400 km in 16 days. On 2 February, we started the third phase from Valsad district in south Gujarat, which will conclude on the 12th.

What are the issues agitating people in the state?

What stood out is how deeply troubled women are. They already bear the brunt of inflation but over the years, alcoholism and drug addiction have emerged as major issues. Police and administrative departments collect several crores every week. Despite prohibition, illegal liquor is available on every street. Drugs are being traded openly. The youth are ruining their lives due to drug addiction.

Children become addicted to alcohol very young, and die young. Young girls are becoming widows. The police collect extortion money for the alcohol sold in every village. This is the biggest issue for women.

Parliament was informed that 30,000 kg of drugs were seized at Mundra port over six years. The continued flow of drugs into the Mundra port means that Gujarat has become a drug-landing hub.

It’s also become a manufacturing hub. You’ll find that in Gujarat, several pharmaceutical companies are actually manufacturing synthetic drugs in labs. The network within Gujarat is such that drugs are being sold in and around every college and university. Drug dealers specifically target campuses.

There are media reports about the now-defunct MGNREGA being mishandled in the state. Did you find any evidence of this?

There is rampant corruption in MGNREGA across Gujarat. We raised the issue and involvement of former minister Bachchu Bhai Khavad and his sons, who were subsequently jailed. Khavad was dismissed as minister.

Across the state, the material component in MGNREGA was increased to 80 per cent and the labour component reduced to 20 per cent. Little or no work was being done on the ground but payments continued to be released. We estimated that in 3-4 districts alone, more than Rs 1,000 crore would have been siphoned off.

We collected evidence from Dahod, Panchmahal, Chhota Udaipur and Mahisagar and presented them to the state government but no action was ever taken.

In Jambu Ghoda block in Panchmahal district, the total population is 42,000. There are 26 villages here. In 26 villages, apparently work worth Rs 300 crore was carried out under MGNREGA in three years. How is this even possible?

The kingpin was the supplier of materials, and four agencies were engaged. One of them was owned by the district BJP president, the second by his wife, the third by his nephew and the fourth by his driver! Thus, in a single block, a single local BJP leader and his family carried out a scam of Rs 150-200 crore under MGNREGA.

I visited the site, gathered evidence and raised it in the Assembly, but the BJP government took no action because their own leaders and bureaucrats are implicated.

After VB–Grameen, the government’s arbitrariness will likely increase. How are you bringing this up?

We are telling people how Mahatma Gandhi, Gujarat’s greatest leader and the Father of the Nation, has been insulted. How the BJP has removed his name from MGNREGA. Most importantly, how Modi has changed the Act and made it just another scheme. The MGNREGA Act contained legal guarantees, but the scheme can be discontinued any time.

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is a hot topic across the country. While news reports are coming in from other states, there hasn’t been an outcry from Gujarat. What’s the status of the SIR here?

Fake voters accounted for 12 per cent of the electoral roll in the state. C.R. Patil, a minister in the Modi government, represents Navsari, a Lok Sabha constituency. We took a sample from there and reported on the large number of fake voters. There is also evidence that the BJP had Form 7 (issued by the ECI) printed centrally to get Dalit and minority voters dropped from the list.

Was there any complaint regarding the names of those deleted after the distribution of Form 7?

Under the rules, anyone with an objection can take a form and fill it up in his own handwriting. The forms distributed by BJP leaders and workers had the voter’s name already printed on them. This indicates an organised operation. BJP workers in every assembly submitted the forms and signed them. Many voters complained that their names and details were simply misused.

I personally visited the ECI office several times. Initially, officials told me that over 1.2 million such forms were received. Then, they claimed only 900,000 were received. Still later, they reduced the number to 200,000 forms. We are demanding that action be taken against those who submitted incorrect forms. We will strive to ensure that names of genuine voters are not deleted.

Our Assembly session begins on 16 February. We will invite people from all over Gujarat to join a rally in Gandhinagar. Our struggle continues.