Skip to main content

Gujarat's Dalit face Mevani "ready to meet" Rahul, releases list of demands, says BJP treats Dalits as untouchables

By Our Representative
Steering clear of his stance towards supporting the Congress, Gujarat’s Dalit face Jignesh Mevani on Thursday declared his intention to meet Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi or any other senior other party ahead of the state assembly polls, but with a caveat: The party must accept his demands on coming to power.
Addressing second media conference in less than 24 hours, Mevani said, the Congress must “endorse” a list of 17 demands he had put up before the state BJP rulers, “who have not even shown the readiness to come on the table for talks on any of them, let alone accepting even one.”
At the first media conference on Wednesday, Mevani made a frontal attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani for shielding Saurashtra BJP leader and ex-MP Dinu Bogha Solanki, accused of murdering RTI activist Amit Jethwa. Mevani had wondered why is the administration “not arresting” Solanki despite Supreme Court order of October 30.
Releasing his demands for the Congress, Mevani accused the BJP of being “anti-Dalit, as seen in the party’s attitude towards treating the community virtually as untouchables”, however, said, he would “not join any political party, including the Congress.” Mevani’s announcement comes amidst Gandhi campaigning across Gujarat.
Answering questions whether he would contest elections to the state assembly, Mevani, said, “As things stand today, I will not fight the polls”, triggering speculation that he might fight the polls as Congress-supported independent he his talks with Gandhi succeed.
Hardik Patel
Praising Gandhi, Mevani repeated least thrice within a span of 15 minutes that he is “obliged” to the Congress vice president for speaking of him “in glowing terms in public.” At the same time, he said, “We will make our stance clear on whether to support the Congress once after meeting him.”
Pointing out that things so far appear to be positive as of today, Mevani said, “I have had telephonic talk with the Scheduled Caste cell leader of the Congress today
morning. I told him, what I am going to announce before the media. On his part, he conveyed Gandhi’s readiness to hold talks.”
Close on the heels of Mevani's announcement, young Patidar leader Hardik Patel declared he would support Congress in the Gujarat assembly polls, because the party is "openly supporting Patidars." The support comes despite Congress refusing to commit his demand for reservation in government jobs and colleges if comes to power.
A senior political observer, who is in know of things, said, the two young leaders are in "direct touch" with OBC leader Alpesh Thakore, who recently joined the Congress recently the presence of Rahul Gandhi. "They are moving in a very planned way, consulting each other at every step", he added.
The list of 17 demands, Jignesh said, include providing alternative employment to manual scavengers who have been doing the hereditary job of cleaning up night soil of dominant castes for centuries, and five acres of cultivable agricultural land to the Dalits who were allocated land during the land reforms days but haven’t yet received the actual possession.
“Hundreds of Dalits are involved in skinning dead cattle. They should be provided with land and shed to continue with their profession. Former chief minister Anandiben Patel had promised this to the victims of the Una attack of July 2016, in which Dalit youths were chained and beaten up in broad day light. Till this date, none of the family members have been rehabilitated”, Mevani said.
“Then”, he said, “We want the Congress to accept to our demand that for having a separate reservation Act of the Gujarat state assembly. This is necessary, because for every other issue concerning reservation, we have to run to the Gujarat High Court.
“We also want the Gujarat government to release the official report of the Thangadh incident of September 2012, when three Dalit youths were shot down in broad day light. The report hasn’t been released for some strange reason, perhaps because it names an MLA behind the incident”, Mevani alleged.

Comments

TRENDING

'Very low rung in quality ladder': Critique of ICMR study on 'sudden deaths' post-2021

By Bhaskaran Raman*  Since about mid-2021, a new phenomenon of extreme concern has been observed throughout the world, including India : unexplained sudden deaths of seemingly healthy and active people, especially youngsters. In the recently concluded Navratri garba celebrations, an unprecedented number of young persons succumbed to heart attack deaths. After a long delay, ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) has finally has published a case-control study on sudden deaths among Indians of age 18-45.

SC 'appears to foster' culture of secrecy, does not seek electoral bond details from SBI

By Rosamma Thomas*  In its order of November 2, 2023 on the case of Association for Democratic Reforms vs Union of India contesting constitutional validity of electoral bonds, the Supreme Court directed all political parties to give particulars of the bonds received by them in sealed covers to the Election Commission of India. SC sought that information be updated until September 2023. 

Only 12% of schools RTE compliant: Whither 6% budgetary allocation for education?

By Ambarish Rai* Despite Indian state’s commitment of 6% GDP on education, the Finance Minister completely ignored right to education for children and strengthening implementation of RTE Act which makes education a fundamental right in her budget speech . The Right to Education (RTE) Forum, which is a collective of different stakeholders in education, condemns this neglect of a legal entitlement, which is unconstitutional and demand for overall increase in the budget to ensure improvement in learning outcomes and overall enhancement of quality education.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Savarkar in Ahmedabad 'declared' two-nation theory in 1937, Jinnah followed 3 years later

By Our Representative One of the top freedom fighters whom BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi revere the most, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, was also a great supporter of the two nation theory for India, one for Hindus another for Muslims, claims a new expose on the man who is also known to be the original proponent of the concept of Hindutva.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'Ambiguous policy': India late in advocating EVs as energy storage in national grid

By Shankar Sharma*  This is regarding the points raised by the Chief Electricity Authority’s (CEA's) advocacy for usage of electrical vehicles (EVs) as energy storage technology, and few associated issues . An objective reading of what he states should reiterate the enormously growing importance of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in our need to transition to a net-zero carbon scenario for the country.

Union Health Ministry, FSSAI 'fail to respond' to NHRC directive on packaged food

By Our Representative  The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has expressed deep concern over the adverse health effects caused by packaged foods high in salt, sugar, and saturated fats. Recognizing it as a violation of the Right to Life and Right to Health of Indian citizens, the quasi-judicial body called for a response from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regarding its selection of front-of-pack labels aimed at providing consumers with information to make healthier choices.

Is India emulating west, 'using' anti-terror plank to justify state-supported violence?

Fahad Ahmad, Baljit Nagra*  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has accused India of being involved in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh leader, on Canadian soil. Narendra Modi’s right-wing Hindu nationalist Indian government is defiant and denies involvement. Indian officials have instead admonished Canada for being a “ safe haven ” for Sikh “terrorism,” a pejorative for Sikh self-determination .