Gujarat's Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, who has returned to the western state having completed all legal formalities, claimed on Saturday that "false cases" were filed against him in the northeastern state, the land of revered Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Sankardeva.
Mevani also told reporters in Kokrajhar that a "conspiracy was hatched" by the BJP leadership to harass him.
"Why will the Assam police suddenly arrest me, register cases, ask for remand and vehemently oppose the bail application?"
"It is because they have got instructions from their political bosses," the Dalit leader alleged.
Later, addressing a press conference in Guwahati, the legislator said that his arrest was nothing short of a message given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP, RSS and the Assam government to the people of the state, warning them of action for dissent.
"The FIRs were filed in blatant disregard of rule of law. It is an insult meted out to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution.
"If an MLA from another state could be arrested by the Assam Police, any dissenter in the northeastern state could also be easily crushed," he claimed.
The independent MLA was apprehended from Palanpur in Gujarat on April 19 for a purported tweet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming that he "considered Godse as God".
He was granted bail by the Kokrajhar court on Monday in the tweet-related case only to get rearrested for allegedly assaulting and molesting a woman police officer in Barpeta, while being escorted to Kokrajhar from Guwahati in connection with the first case.
Barpeta district judge granted him bail in the second case on Friday and pulled up the Assam police for registering a "false FIR" of assault.
The legislator has taken permission from the court to leave town, as one of his bail conditions was to stay within the limits of its jurisdiction.
Mevani said that he had immense respect for the judiciary, which said that "there was no reason for filing an FIR against me and it was not maintainable in the court".
The government wanted to "crush my spirit and confidence but it made no difference to me. They can file any number of FIRs against me but I will not move an inch from my stand", he asserted.
"The BJP and the RSS are fascists... They want to do away with the Constitution and bring in the 'Manusmriti' (ancient legal text of Hinduism). When people with such beliefs came to power, all their efforts were directed towards ending democracy. This mindset led to my implication in a fabricated case," he said.
The Dalit leader wondered what would happen to the people of Assam, journalists, human rights activists and those who speak against the BJP government.
"Extra-judicial killings in Assam have led the court to say that the Assam is slowly becoming a police state and that it is a dangerous sign for democracy," he said.
Mevani was referring to the police encounters since last year, after the BJP led by Himanta Sarma assumed power in the state.
The Congress-backed MLA claimed that a second case of assault was filed on him as an act of cowardice as the Assam Police knew the first case involving the tweet wouldn't stand a chance".
Thanking the state unit of Congress, its lawyers and people who supported him, particularly youth, Adivasis, Dalits, Muslims and Ahoms, he added, 'This is the Assam of Mahapursuh Sankardeva and not Himanta Biswa Sarma. Cultural diversity must be celebrated in the state.
