Mevani calls Gujarat government ‘useless’ on his return from Assam
India Today
Jignesh Mevani was arrested last week for reportedly tweeting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Dalit leader and MLA Jignesh Mevani on Tuesday arrived in Gujarat, nearly two weeks after being arrested by the Assam police, and hit out at the state’s BJP government calling it “nikamma” (useless) for doing nothing when a legislator from the state was “kidnapped” and taken away.
Addressing a gathering soon after landing in Ahmedabad, Mevani also threatened to give a call for ‘Gujarat bandh’ on June 1 if cases against Dalits in Una tehsil (filed over protests post assault on some Dalits in July 2016) and other agitators in the state are not withdrawn and demands of grade pay for policemen and other protesting groups not met by the government.
“I would like to tell the Gujarat government that you are so ‘nikamma’ (useless), that you could do nothing when the Assam police came to Gujarat to trample upon its pride. You should be ashamed of it.
“The Assam police kidnapping an MLA from Gujarat and taking him to Assam is an insult to 6.5 crore people of Gujarat,” the independent MLA said at the gathering where state Congress president Jagdish Thakor, and senior party leaders like Arjun Modhwadia and Amit Chavda were also present.
He made the people assembled for the programme take an oath to never vote for the BJP or attend an RSS shakha.
Mevani also targeted the Assam government for not saying “sorry” over a lower court’s critical observation regarding an FIR filed against him in the north-eastern state.
