By Kushagra Tiwari

Ahmedabad: The National Convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Arvind Kejriwal, was on a visit to Gujarat along with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. During the trip, the AAP leaders held a public rally today at Pitha Ground in Dediyapada in support of local MLA Chaitar Vasava, who has been in judicial custody at the Vadodara Central Jail in an attempted murder case.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and Lok Sabha MP from Bharuch, Mansukh Vasava, who had defeated Chaitar in the 2024 general election, sharply criticized the AAP leaders, saying that holding a rally would not secure Chaitar Vasava’s release.

Mansukh Vasava stressed that the case is under judicial consideration and only the court can decide the outcome. “Whether it’s MLA Chaitarbhai or MP Mansukh Vasava himself, once you are caught in such crimes, you must fight it legally. Bhagwant Mann and Kejriwal should understand this. Instead, they come here to mislead the public.”

“As a former Chief Minister and senior politician, Kejriwal should know the law. Your MLA is in jail for creating chaos, and you come to Dediyapada to hold a rally to get him released. Do you think the court will let him go because of your rally? I say that anyone who comes to free such troublemakers should get double punishment, regardless of party,” Vasava stated in an attack on the senior AAP leadership.

Despite criticism, the rally was held today, during which Kejriwal said, “BJP thinks that by sending Chaitar Vasava to jail, they will scare him, but they don’t know how many times he has gone to jail. Chaitar Vasava is a lion; he is not one to be scared.”

📍 डेडियापाड़ा, गुजरात

विनाश काले विपरीत बुद्धि‼️

बीजेपी को लगता है कि चैतर वसावा को जेल भेजकर उसे डरा लेंगे लेकिन सरकार भूल गई कि चैतर वसावा शेर है, वह डरने वाला नहीं है।

अभी यह @Gopal_Italia जी और @isudan_gadhvi जी को भी जेल भेजेंगे लेकिन आम आदमी पार्टी के नेता और… pic.twitter.com/ZRTwvGhtvZ

— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) July 24, 2025

Kejriwal’s statement that Chaitar has been to jail many times is largely accurate, as the MLA from Dediyapada has had multiple run-ins with the law even before the latest case. In this case, Vasava was arrested on July 5 following an FIR filed by Sanjay Vasava, the BJP president of Dediyapada taluka, accusing him of attempted murder during a clash. The Narmada Sessions Court rejected the bail plea of Vasava on July 14, citing that he had allegedly “committed the crime while on probation” in an earlier extortion and assault case.

During that hearing, the prosecution presented a record of 18 past criminal cases that had been registered against Vasava since 2014, ranging from assault to inciting violence, robbery, and obstruction of public officers. Notably, the defense argued that Vasava had been acquitted in many of these cases, though no official judgments were submitted.

Given that the prosecution listed the cases in court, it becomes clear Vasava has had a tendency of repeated confrontations with law enforcement. According to the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), Vasava, in his affidavit to the Election Commission ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, himself declared that there were 13 criminal cases registered against him at various police stations like Dediyapada, Sagbara, and Rajpipla.

Among all these cases, Vasava was convicted in one case in May 2023, in which the Narmada District Sessions Judge ordered six months’ imprisonment and a ₹1,000 fine.

List of cases against AAP MLA Chaitar Vasava

Other serious charges under which Vasava is booked include dacoity (IPC 395), robbery with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt (IPC 397), house trespass with intent to commit offences punishable with life imprisonment (IPC 450, 452), abetment of suicide (IPC 306), criminal conspiracy (IPC 120B), and abetment of offences punishable with death or life imprisonment (IPC 115). There’s also a charge of sexual harassment (IPC 354A) and one for promoting enmity between groups (IPC 153A), highlighting the range of allegations.

Beyond these, Vasava faces multiple charges linked to rioting and unlawful assembly, including rioting (IPC 147), rioting armed with deadly weapons (IPC 148), and others under IPC 149, which holds every member of an unlawful assembly accountable. He is also accused of obstructing and assaulting public servants, intentional insult to provoke breach of peace, extortion, and criminal intimidation.

These diverse charges paint a picture of allegations spanning organized violence, intimidation, public disorder, and sexual misconduct, all of which pose serious legal challenges for the MLA as he remains in judicial custody awaiting the outcome of his bail plea.

Amidst all this, Narmada district Aam Aadmi Party vice-president Devendra Vasava (Devabhai Vasava) issued a direct warning to the government demanding release of Chaitar Vasava. “If Chaitarbhai is not released within seven days, then I warn you that we will march on the Narmada district DYSP office and Collector’s office carrying the traditional weapons handed down to us by our elders — bows and arrows, axes, sickles, and spears — and we will surround the Narmada district Collector’s office and DYSP office. And we will also lay siege to the Baroda Sub Jail, where Chaitar Vasava is imprisoned, and try to get Chaitarbhai released.”

This kind of statement when the MLA is in judicial custody as per court order does not speak volumes for a party that used to claim that they stand for new kind of politics.

Furthermore, other than these legal matters, Vasava has also courted controversy with statements supporting a separate tribal state. Last year, during an event, he announced the formation of the ‘Bhil Pradesh Mukti Morcha’ to press for a separate tribal state combining parts of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, even proposing Kevadiya — which houses the Statue of Unity, the world’s tallest statue of Sardar Patel who united the nation, as Bhil Pradesh’s capital.

Earlier in 2023, during a Christian community event, Vasava had publicly rejected allegations of religious conversion against Christian groups, a stance he repeated at several events, even as reports on the ground surfaced about alleged coercive conversion activities in tribal regions like Narmada, Bharuch, Tapi, and Dang.

Now, with the politics rising up, all eyes will remain on Gujarat High Court which has posted the matter of Vasava’s regular bail for August 5th. DeshGujarat