Who is Divya Ahirwar, activist whose arrest is in spotlight in Madhya Pradesh?

Ahirwar, a municipal councillor from Bijawar and a law student, was arrested in September for protests linked to the Ken-Betwa project.

When former Rajya Sabha MP and senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat and Jai Kisan Andolan leader Amit Bhatnagar met Divya Ahirwar at Panna district jail on Tuesday, they found a young activist unwilling to seek bail.

Ahirwar, a municipal councillor from Bijawar in Chhatarpur district and a law student, told them she wanted to continue fighting for displaced families from inside prison.

"I will continue the struggle from jail," she said, according to a statement issued by the Jai Kisan Sangathan after the meeting.

Ahirwar has been in jail since her arrest in September. Her detention has become a focal point of the Chita Andolan, a protest against the displacement of families linked to the Ken-Betwa Link Project and other infrastructure schemes in Bundelkhand. The movement has demanded fair compensation, proper rehabilitation and action on complaints that families were excluded from surveys or evicted without settling their claims.

Her refusal to seek bail has given the agitation a new focus. As Bhatnagar returned to the protest site after ending a 28-day hunger strike, the movement also drew political leaders and displaced families back into the streets. "We have counselled her to seek bail. We will approach the High Court," Bhatnagar said.

Ahirwar alleged that she had been jailed for "raising legal questions on behalf of Adivasis and farmers." She also raised questions about the "manner of her arrest, alleged mistreatment in police custody, the absence of a medical examination and the failure to record her statement."

Police said Bhatnagar was arrested on September 28 from Banheri Kalan village in Madhya Pradesh's Panna district. She has been booked for attempt to murder and other charges in connection with a February 2026 protest against the Ken-Betwa River Link Project in Chhatarpur district that allegedly turned violent and resulted in an injury to a police constable.

Her organisation has claimed that Ahirwar has been booked in at least five criminal cases, including two attempt-to-murder cases and cases related to rioting. Bhatnagar maintains that the allegations are false and says the movement follows Gandhian principles.

The Congress has also criticised the Madhya Pradesh government over the arrest, with state unit chief Jitu Patwari visiting her in jail earlier this week.

Key to movement, her colleagues say

Ahirwar's father died in 2013, when she was in Class X, and her mother works as a labourer. Ahirwar helped educate young students from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities by arranging free coaching.

She entered public life as an elected councillor in Bijawar and was part of the Aam Aadmi Party unit. She eventually left the party.

Bhatnagar said Ahirwar submitted an affidavit on the right to recall, stating that she would be willing to give up her councillorship if her constituents were unhappy with her work.

Ahirwar joined the movement on January 26, 2022, during the Samvidhan Bachao Padyatra. Her political work brought her in contact with local grievances, but the displacement dispute drew her into a wider struggle involving villages affected by dams, river-linking infrastructure and other regional projects.

She has become one of the public voices raising these issues. Her role became especially important whenever Bhatnagar was arrested. Rather than allowing the movement to lose momentum in the absence of its most visible leader, Ahirwar would take charge of organising and mobilising supporters.

The movement had struggled to maintain momentum as villagers encountered problems with surveys and compensation claims. In the initial stages, the movement was led by women, and Ahirwar helped mobilise them, beginning with small gatherings that later snowballed into hundreds of women walking several kilometres in tough jungle terrain to participate.

For Bhatnagar, who has worked alongside Ahirwar since the early days of the movement, her arrest represents the loss of a crucial organiser at a time when the agitation is gaining fresh momentum. He told The Indian Express that she has been instrumental in mobilising women from affected villages and has repeatedly taken the lead whenever he was arrested.

"She goes to villages and stays there overnight," Bhatnagar said, describing her work among families facing displacement.

Ahirwar, one of the few tech-savvy members of the group, also helped set up the movement's communications wing, shooting videos and managing social media engagement on the ground, where even mobile phone connectivity is sparse.