CHENNAI: Gujarat MLA and Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani on Tuesday said Dalits’ emancipation should be a nation-wide movement and he has been trying to create a common platform by including progressive forces and Dalits across the country, to pave the way for a casteless society.
Speaking at a press meet after meeting VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan at the party office at Vadapalani in the evening, Mevani said BJP perceives Dalits as its biggest threat in the country and its no wonder Dalit leaders like Thirumavalavan are being targeted by BJP and RSS in Tamil Nadu.
“I am being targeted by BJP in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra as progressive forces across the country rendered their support to me in the fight against BJP. They (BJP) targeted Rohit Vemula and they even arrested (Dalit outfit Bhim Army founder) Chandrashekhar Azad in UP. From the way Dalits are treated across the country, we can understand that they are the biggest threat for BJP in 2019 elections” he said.
Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a great symbol of failure in the country, he said he wanted to campaign on the false promises of BJP on creating employment. “He (Modi) promised to create two crore jobs a year and so far he had not created 10 per cent of the jobs he promised,” he said.
He said there was no difference among Dalits in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.To a query on VHP leader Pravin Togadia’s statement that his life was under threat, Mevani wondered as to what the lives of the common people in Gujarat will be.
Earlier in the day, Jignesh Mevani participated in an interaction with academics, activists and students at Qaide Milleth International Academy of Media Studies in Chennai.Later, a media briefing was organised with Mevani. Before speaking, he asked press reporters to remove the mike of Republic Television channel and said he would stop talking if he gets any question from that television channel reporter.
Opposing this, media reporters walked out of the venue and the media interaction was cancelled.