Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani is unfazed by his arrest and would continue fighting for the deprived, according to Assam Congress leaders who spoke to him.
Mevani, 41, has been kept at the Kokrajhar police station in Lower Assam following his arrest from Palanpur Guest House in Gujarat over his tweet on Prime Minister Narendra Modi that had reference to Nathuram Godse.
“I spoke to Jigneshji over phone through our legal team on Thursday night. He is mentally very strong and unfazed. He told me categorically: I did my job and they (BJP government) did theirs. I will continue to do my job of fighting for the deprived and the marginalised. I assured him of our solidarity. On Friday, he thanked the PCC and the legal team for their support through our working president Jakir Hussain Sikdar,” Assam PCC general secretary (administration) Apurba Bhattacharjee told The Telegraph.
The BJP is in power in both Assam and Gujarat. Mevani is a Congress-backed MLA from Gujarat’s Vadgam constituency.
The Congress on Friday staged a three-hour protest in front of the Kokrajhar police station, seeking Mevani’s immediate release. Slogans to save democracy, freedom of speech and against illegal arrest were raised by the protesters.
Monoj Bhagabati, chairman of the Assam PCC’s legal cell, said: “Mevani was very relaxed and composed when we met him for over an hour on Friday. He also spoke about the work he and his colleagues are doing for the marginalised.”
Bhagabati said Mevani spoke to his father and his legal team from the police station. Besides Bhagabati, the other members of the team are Shahjahan Ali and Konkon Das.
Mevani has been slapped with IPC sections dealing with criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity between communities, defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class, intentional insult to provoke breach of peace, causing alarm or fear that induces a person to commit an offence against the State or against public tranquillity, statements promoting enmity, and committing offence in any place of worship apart from provisions of the Information Technology Act.
Bhattacharjee said Mevani’s arrest was a warning to the Opposition. “But this will not scare us. Had such a step (arrest) been applied to all irrespective of affiliation, a lot of BJP members should have been arrested for their provocative tweets,” Bhattacharjee added.
The Assam Congress also targeted chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who had on Thursday said he was not aware of Mevani’s arrest because the police had not informed him. “Is that possible? Sarma is not only the chief minister but also the home minister who is in charge of the police. Will the police fly to Gujarat to arrest a popular Dalit leader for a tweet without the CM and the HM not knowing? This is a drama. Very unfortunate,” Bhattacharjee said.
Like Bhattacharjee, Raijor Dal MLA Akhil Gogoi, who was the first to meet Mevani on Friday after securing “permission” from the chief minister, linked the arrest to the upcoming Gujarat polls.
“Really unfortunate. Did anything happen in Gujarat because of the tweet? Why should the BJP and its ally UPPL in Assam open the umbrella when it is raining in Gujarat? Nobody knew about the tweet here till the arrest. It is a clear case of political vendetta. They arrested him so that he can’t concentrate on the Gujarat polls. He should be released immediately,” Gogoi said.
