While the reason behind arrest of Mevani, a Dalit leader and convenor of political party Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, is not clear yet, it is said that he has been arrested in connection with some of his tweets.
Gujarat Congress leader and Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani was arrested by Assam Police late on Wednesday over a tweet. Vadgam MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani was arrested by Assam Police from Palanpur Circuit House in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district around 11.30 pm on Wednesday, as per Mevani's team. He is likely being taken to Assam later in the day.
“Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani arrested by Assam police from Palanpur circuit House. Police yet to share the copy of the FIR with us, we have been informed about some case filed against him in Assam and is likely to be deported to Assam tonight,” Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar wrote on Twitter.
While the reason behind arrest of Mevani, a Dalit leader and convenor of political party Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, is not clear yet, it is said that he has been arrested in connection with some of his tweets. His Twitter account shows that some recent tweets by him have been withheld due to a request by authorities.
Jignesh Mevani is the MLA from Gujarat’s Vadgam. He is an independent MLA, but has extended support to the Congress. He along with political activist and JNU’s former students’ union leader Kanhaiya Kumar had held a press conference with Congress’s Rahul Gandhi where Kumar had joined the Congress party and Mevani extended his support to Gandhi.
Mevani, in September last year, had joined the Congress along with Kumar. A Dalit leader, he first emerged along with Hardik Patel and Alpesh Thakore as the youth face challenging the BJP dominance in Gujarat during the 2017 Assembly elections. The Congress hoped that the entry of Kanhaiya and Mevani would be good optics given the fact that several young leaders — Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sushmita Dev, Jitin Prasada, Priyanka Chaturvedi and Laliteshpati Tripathi – had left the party in the last two years.
Jignesh Mevani’s arrest comes ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections scheduled to be held by the end of the year.
As per reports, the Congress leader’s supporters will protest against his arrest at the national capital today, April 21, with slogans of ‘save the constitution, save the country’.
