What happened to Dabholkar and Kalburgi can happen to me

ON JULY 11, 2016, a mob of upper-caste men at Una town in Gujarat’s Gir Somnath district attacked seven members of a dalit family who were skinning a dead cow.

- NANDINI OZA

JIGNESH MEVANI independent MLA

They were stripped of their clothes, tied to the back of a car, and beaten with sticks and iron pipes. Videos of the violence went viral.

The incident changed Jignesh Mevani’s life. Until then, he had been just another dalit activist fighting for the uplift of his community. Born in a lower-middle-class family in Mehsana district, he was a graduate in English literature and law, and had worked briefly as a journalist and lawyer. The Una incident so moved him that Mevani mobilised a mass movement and led a 400km padyatra to Una. He also set up the rights platform Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, becoming the face of the dalit struggle for land in Gujarat.

Mevani, 41, now represents the Vadgam constituency in the Gujarat assembly. A vociferous critic of the BJP, he was recently arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy by the Assam Police for a tweet criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mevani said in the tweet: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who considers Godse as his god, is going on a tour of Gujarat from April 20. I appeal to him that he should appeal for calm in Himmatnagar, Khambat and Veraval, where communal violence broke out. Can we at least hope for this much from the maker of the grand temple?”

Mevani was charged with trying to “incite hatred” and “destroy the social fabric”. But a district court in Assam said the arrest was unlawful and granted him bail.

He was re-arrested after a lady police officer alleged that Mevani had harassed and threatened her while being in custody in Assam, but the court again granted him bail.