India Tomorrow
AHMEDABAD—Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD) has vehemently condemned the arrest of Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani by the Assam police.
In a statement issued on Saturday, ANHAD demanded the immediate release of Mevani and an end to harassment of his family and friends by the Assam and Gujarat police.
Stating that there is an “undeclared Emergency” in the country, the NGO activists said that if the police of another state could harass an elected MLA, then one could imagine what the “authoritarian regime” would do against ordinary citizens mustering the courage to speak against the policies of the government.
Mevani was arrested by the Assam police from Palanpur Circuit House on April 20 night on a complaint filed by a worker in Kokrajhar, Assam. The complaint was based on a tweet involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted by Mevani.
Mevani, in his tweets, had called Prime Minister Narendra Modi allegedly a supporter of Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi. The social media platform has now withheld both tweets.
In his tweets, Mevani had appealed to PM Modi to speak up against the communal violence in Himmatnagar, Khambhat, and Veraval in Gujarat.
Supporting the stand of Mevani, ANHAD said that the MLA was only performing his duty to draw the attention of Modi towards the rising communal violence in India on which “Modi is always found silent.”
“It is important to note that the incidents of communal violence have increased in the country since Modi took political power at the Centre in 2014,” ANHAD activists said in a statement.
Quoting figures from the Home Ministry report, they said there was a 28 percent increase in communal violence from 2014 to 2017.
They said that the incidents of communal violence did not stop even during the lockdown period owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. Quoting from the National Crime Record Bureau report-2021, they said that there was an increase of 96 percent in communal riots in 2020 compared to the previous year. “Similarly, caste riots increased close to 50 percent, agrarian riots have increased to 38 percent, and riots during ‘andolan/morcha’ have increased by 33 percent.
“Rather than doing anything to stop the communal violence in India and continuing not to speak on these glaring issues, the current BJP regime has orchestrated this frivolous case with the help of Assam and Gujarat governments against Jignesh Mevani. On the one hand, Assam Police has arrested and extradited Jignesh Mevani in the middle of the night like a criminal. In contrast, on the other hand, Gujarat Police has been intimidating and harassing members of Jignesh’s family members and his associates in Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch (RDAM),” alleges ANHAD.
The activists said the Gujarat Crime Branch had confiscated the office computers of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch office in Rakhiyal, Ahmedabad. Mevani is associated with this organization.
Gujarat Police has visited the home of Kamlesh Katariya, an associate of Jignesh Mevani, and confiscated his mobile.
“Gujarat Police has also visited Jignesh Mevani’s MLA quarters and confiscated two more desktops, CPUs. In addition, Gujarat Police also went to the residence of Satish, Jignesh Mevani’s personal assistant in Palanpur,” said the statement.
“As he (Satish) was not there at his residence, they (police) have seized mobile phones of his parents,” said activists.
“Mobile phones of Jagdish Chavda and Amarnath, associates of Jignesh Mevani have been confiscated by the Gujarat Police. They have also searched Jignesh Mevani’s home in Meghaninagar, Ahmedabad and confiscated some files in the presence of his father. Bhavesh, another associate of Jignesh Mevani has received a call from Gujarat Police and is being forced to appear in the Police Station. On asking if there was any legal notice against him, he was threatened by the policeman on the phone saying if he did not do what is told to him, he would be picked up from his village. Similar news from many other friends and associates of Jignesh Mevani are being received who are being called and harassed by the Gujarat Police,” ANHAD said.
“Hence, this leaves no doubt that this arrest is a coordinated attack to silence Jignesh Mevani, who has been actively raising the issues of marginalized communities and firmly stood against destructive policies and actions of the current regime. The Bhartiya Janata Party is extremely vindictive against the opposition leaders who raise their voice against them,” alleged ANHAD.
Those who have signed the statement include Bhavna Sharma, Dev Desai, Leena Dabiru and Tarun Sagar, all from ANHAD.
