Gujarat Polls: Non-Bailable Warrant Issued Against Jignesh Mevani Just After He Files Nomination

A non-bailable warrant has been issued against Dalit rights activist Jignesh Mevani, who is contesting in the upcoming Gujarat assembly elections from Vadgam in Banaskantha district, northern Gujarat, for failing to appear before a metropolitan court in connection with a case filed against him for the ‘Rail Roko Andolan’ in January this year.

According to Jignesh’s lawyer Shamshad Pathan, his client failed to appear for hearing as he was busy filing nomination forms as an independent candidate after Congress tacitly left the seat vacant for him.

The lawyers had pleaded for exemption of Jignesh’s appearance but it was rejected by Metropolitan Magistrate R S Langa. However, the court held that it was not a pressing requirement and the nomination could have been filed earlier.

The magistrate issued warrants against Jignesh and 12 others.

Commenting on the development, Jignesh told NewsClick that the “submission made by my lawyer was overruled by the court and the warrant was issued against me”.

“I respect the honourable court’s decision. I will present myself before the court and seek permanent exemption from physical appearance. Let’s see what happens,” he said.

On January 11, Jignesh and his supporters were arrested for blocking the Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express at the Ahmedabad railway station for several minutes to protest against the ‘Vibrant Gujarat Summit’, a high-profile function organised by the state government.

About 40 people are facing trial in the case.

Jignesh, himself a lawyer, shot to fame a year ago when he led a protest march called ‘Dalit Asmita Yatra’ (Dalit pride march) from Ahmedabad to Una against the flocking of seven Dalit youth by cow vigilantes.

The march, which culminated on August 15, 2016, was attended by some 20,000 Dalits, including women, who took a pledge to give up their traditional jobs of removing cow carcasses. He demanded the land for the upliftment of Dalits.

Along with Patidar quota leader Hardik Patel and OBC leader Alpesh Thakore, Jignesh is considered as a rising face in recent politics of Gujarat. The Dalit community, which never had a voice in the state, have found a voice after the march.

Going by the electoral politics of the state, the BJP has won elections with the support of Dalits. But this time around, the situation is different. Now, the community has its leader.

All the three young faces – Hardik, Jignesh and Alpesh – have made an anti-right front and turned political tides in the state against the saffron party.

Noticeably, of the 13 seats reserved for SCs, the BJP had won 10 and Congress three, in the last assembly election.

Jignesh is fighting from the seat reserved for a Scheduled Caste (SC) candidate. Announcing his candidacy, the 32-year-old leader requested other parties not to contest the seat.

“In the past few months, countless activists and youth have requested me to contest these elections with full strength to counter the fascist BJP on the street as well as in the electoral arena and become the voice of the oppressed in the Vidhan Sabha. BJP is our primary enemy. We request every political outfit and an independent candidate other than BJP to not put up a candidate against us so that there can be a direct fight with the BJP,” he wrote on Facebook.

The Vadgam seat is considered to be a relatively safe seat for Jignesh. However, as Dalits form only 8-9% of the population in the constituency, Jignesh will have the Congress support among Thakores and Muslims. While Thakors form more than 20% of the population in the seat, the Muslims form around 12% in Vadgam.

Alpesh Thakore contesting from Radhanpur in Patan district, not far from Vadgam and part of the Patan Lok Sabha constituency will be an added advantage for him.

Though the assembly segment has been electing a BJP MLA since 1995, the Congress has won the seat thrice – in 1998, 2002 and 2012. In the last election, Manilal Vaghela defeated former Cabinet Minister Fakirbhai Vaghela by a significant margin of 22,000 votes.

Fakirbhai died in 2013 and Jignesh will be up against a relative newcomer from the BJP, Vijay Chakravarti.

Even in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, in which the gap between the vote shares of the BJP and the Congress was a huge 27%, the difference was a mere 1.8% in the Vadgam Assembly seat.