Mehsana (Gujarat): How does an activist become a politician? Sagar Rabari, the well-known farmers’ activist has an answer.
“When years of social movements yield positive but unsatisfactory results, you have no option but to get into the system,” Rabari told The Wire.
Now the state vice-president of Aam Aadmi Party, Rabari took the leap in 2020 once the the Arvind Kejriwal-led party began to show interest in Gujarat. Along with his friend Isudan Gadhvi, now AAP’s chief ministerial face, Rabari took the leap into politics and work on what has been his life-long commitment – farmers’ welfare.
To farmers of the state, Rabari is no stranger. Since he began his activism in 1985, he has led multiple farmers’ movements in the state, rescued hectares of agrarian lands from the clutches of corporate acquisition, and helped water-starved farmers in Saurashtra to come up with innovative solutions that stopped seasonal migration of labourers.
“I used to be in TV debates with Isudan in his popular programme ‘Mahamanthan’. Both of us were passionate about agrarian issues. After years of bargaining with the government to secure farmers’ rights, both of us understood that people like us should be in a position to make policies, and not hand over governance to people who are inherently anti-farmer,” Rabari said.
“BJP has been avowedly pro-industrialisation at the cost of agriculture, even when more than 50% of the state’s population is dependent on it. Congress, on the other hand, had been inactive on the ground. AAP brings us hope with its pro-poor stance,” he added.
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Rabari has not only entered the electoral fray but has also set out to alter the electoral play.
‘Irrespective of caste and community’
He has chosen to contest from Bechraji, where more than 90% people are dependent on agriculture. Bechraji, around 60 kilometres north of Ahmedabad is known as one of the biggest pilgrimage centres of the state because of the Shree Bahuchar Mata temple, but it also is a part of Gujarat’s biggest castor and mustard seeds-producing region.
Rabari has pinned all hopes on farmers who he considers his own, irrespective of the caste and community they belong to.
Voters sit and watch the campaigning at Gokalgarh village of Gujarat’s Bechraji assembly seat. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashastha/The Wire
In a state where most parties minutely calculate caste and community equations before selecting a candidate, Rabari chose Bechraji where his Maldhari community’s presence is almost negligible. The Patels and Thakors dominate the constituency, and both BJP and Congress have fielded leaders from the Thakor community. The Patels are seen as traditional BJP voters but they voted for the Congress in 2017 in the midst of the Patidar agitation, leading to a famous Congress victory in the seat.
Isn’t Rabari’s decision to contest from Bechraji self-destructive?
“I chose it. It may take me down but it can also kickstart my political career. If everything I did throughout my life could not break caste and community equations in this agrarian belt, then what is the point of being in politics? And I feel good because of the positive response I have received throughout my campaign. I should win,” he said.
Rabari said that he saw a video where traders from the Bechraji town were seen saying, “At last Bechraji got a good candidate” when his name was announced.
Rabari feels that a true public servant does not need caste-wise consolidation in her or his favour. “He should appeal to all. I have finished door-to-door campaigns twice in all the 131 villages of the seat. In some villages, I have met people three or four times,” he added, as he stood up through the sunroof of his car to wave his hand at supporters in Santhal village.
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Rabari came from an extremely poor family in the Aravalli district. He says he had to travel almost eight kilometres on foot to get to his school. But Ahmedabad, where he came to join college, changed everything for him. He joined the social work organisation Gujarat Lok Samiti as a typist where he learnt the ropes of social and political activism. Influenced by the ideas of anti-corruption crusader Jayaprakash Narayan, he took his socialist ideals to multiple villages of the state.
“During my MA which I didn’t complete, I decided that I don’t want a job and decided against making money. Since then there is no going back,” Rabari said. His election campaign has been mostly crowd-funded and several of his farmer friends across the state have been switching roles to help him put up a good fight against established parties.
“Two of my farmer friends from AAP Jignesh Patel and Jaydev Sinh Chavda – both Bechraji residents – have spent the most on my campaign,” he added.
Campaign vehicles for Sagar Rabari and AAP at Bechraji. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashastha/The Wire
From an anti-liquor movement to agitations to prevent sale of grazing land to corporates to multiple anti-displacement struggles, Rabari has either led crucial movements or played an undeniable role in them. Over the last decade, two of the movements he led particularly stand out – the agitation against Mandal-Bechraji Special Investment Region (which also saw leadership from Lalji Desai, who is now in the Congress) and one against corruption in the crop insurance scheme.
“The Mandal-Bechraji SIR was supposed to displace 44 villages without any compensation. The Gujarat government intended to acquire land through the state’s Urban Town Planning Act that does necessitate rehabilitation and compensation to displaced people. We launched an agitation for 99 days in 2014 after which the state government was forced to cancel it,” Rabari says.
He also spoke about how the BJP-led government was forced to cancel the licences of four private insurance companies which were allegedly cheating people through the crop insurance scheme. “All of us knew that the insurance scheme for farmers was only a way for companies to make profit. But we had no evidence. But I found two Tehsil certificates which had declared over 75% crop losses to farmers, but the companies showed only around 20% losses,” Rabari said.
His long career in activism also had made him a frequent panelist in television programmes that discussed agriculture. “Those TV shows helped me reach more people. Now people recognise me even in villages. That helped me in politics too.”
But he added that what drove him towards politics are three foot marches – held over the years – to raise awareness about farmers’ concerns, one of which he did alone.
“In those Padyatras, I learnt that people are always willing to help if they believe that you are fighting for a good cause. In my first Yatra from Somnath to Sachivalaya (Somnath in south Gujarat to Secretariat in Gandhinagar) I started alone but had at least 150 people walking with me at every juncture,” Rabari said.
“I may win or lose but the faith that people showed in me gives me hope. I am here to stay,” Rabari said.