Dalits of 1000 Gujarat villages to switch off lights on May 1 to protest Mevani's arrest

Martin Macwan, Jignesh Mevani

By A Representative   
Dalit households of more than 1,000 villages across Gujarat will be putting off lights for 15 minutes on the night of May 1, which happens to Gujarat foundation day, as a mark of protest against the arrest of Jignesh Mevani, independent MLA and well-known Dalit leader.
Assam police, in coordination with Gujarat police, arrested Mevani on April 20 late night, charging him of fomenting inter-religious discord on the basis of a tweet in which he blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for refusing to speak up to stop recent incidents of communal violence.
Announcing the programme, veteran Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan said, in each of the nearly 1,000 villages, Dalit men, women and children would gather and sign a petition to the Gujarat chief minister asking him to ensure the release of not just Mevani but also take back all the cases instituted against Dalit individuals as also other marginalised sections for political reasons as part of general amnesty.
“This type of general amnesty has been announced in the past, and this includes the Patidar quota agitationists”, the draft letter, sent to the Dalit activists for signatures to these villages, said. Added Macwan, “Similarly, cases of against nearly 2,000 agitating for changing the name of Marathwada University to Ambedkar University were taken back. Cases were also withdrawn against those who took part in the Bhima Koregaon agitation.”

Mevani's arrest insult to entire Dalit community: Poster for May 1

The draft letter, calling the treatment meted out to Mewani “abusive”, said, it is highly unlikely that the Assam BJP leader’s complaint against the Gujarat Dalit leader was made without the knowledge of the BJP leadership.
Calling the arrest and the manner in which the Assam police came down to Gujarat to nab him “an insult to the Dalit identity”, the letter said, the manner in which the whole operation took place should be investigated, and those responsible for showing disrespect to Mevani should be made to apologise to him.