Ahmedabad, July 18 (IANS) AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann are scheduled to visit Gujarat on July 23, party leader Isudan Gadhvi announced on Friday.

The two senior leaders will attend the ‘Khedut Pashupalak Mahapanchayat’ in Modasa, where they will voice their support for farmers and cattle rearers, Gadhvi said.

The event is expected to draw significant participation from the agrarian community.

On July 24, Kejriwal and Mann will head to Dediapada to hold a public meeting in solidarity with Chaitar Vasava, where they will protest what the party claims are “false cases” filed against him.

The AAP leadership is expected to address a large gathering and raise their voice for justice on behalf of tribal leaders and farmers.

The protest in Gujarat, triggered by discontent with the annual revision of milk rates based on fat content, took a violent turn on July 17.

According to police reports, agitators — allegedly mobilised through social media messages — gathered near the dairy’s premises around 10 A.M., forced their way past barricades and clashed with security personnel.

Eyewitnesses reported that protesters, some wielding sticks, iron rods, and stones, chanted slogans demanding greater transparency in the dairy’s pricing and profit-sharing practices.

The situation escalated when the crowd pelted stones, vandalised public property, and blocked the National Highway using tree branches and debris.

To control the mob, police lobbed nearly 70 rounds of tear gas shells. In one instance, Head Constable Jignesh Kumar Sureshbhai was pulled into the crowd and physically assaulted. The FIR, lodged at Himmatnagar A-Division Police Station, names Patel and Idar-based leader Dharmendrasinh Jetawat as key instigators, alleging they used social media platforms to incite unrest.

This, despite Sabar Dairy having recently disbursed retention payments to farmers on July 11 — a move critics, including Patel, have dismissed as inadequate and opaque.

The protest caused extensive damage to infrastructure, including the main entrance gate, fencing, and multiple government vehicles stationed at the facility.

Authorities have invoked serious criminal Sections under the IPC and are in the process of identifying additional culprits through surveillance footage and local inputs.

Established in 1964, Sabar Dairy — officially the Sabarkantha District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union — is one of Gujarat’s largest cooperative milk unions.

It processes nearly 750,000 litres of milk daily sourced from over 1,700 villages, and is part of the Amul/GCMMF network.

In the 2023–24 financial year, the union reported a turnover of Rs 8,939 crore, placing it firmly in the league of billion-dollar cooperatives.

–IANS

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