Hindustan Times (Lucknow)

‘Modi’s tenure as Gujarat CM was worst-ever for Dalits, Muslims’

- HT Correspond­ent

Jignesh Mevani, who spearheade­d the Dalit agitation against the Una flogging, on Friday urged Dalits and Muslims to come together on a common platform to fight for their rights.

He termed the much-touted Gujarat model as anti-Dalit and anti-Muslim. Mevai, who was on his second visit to poll-bound UP within a week, described Narendra Modi’s tenure as Gujarat CM as the worst-ever one for Dalits and Muslims.

“It was the worst-ever tenure where Dalits and Muslims were subjected to all sorts of atrocities. It was in his tenure that around 15,000 cases were registered in which the conviction rate was just 3%. In a majority of the villages, Dalits were forced to vacate their houses. This is the true face of the Gujarat model,” he added at a press conference here.

He would share a platform with Radhika Vemullah, mother of Rohith Vemula, at a public meeting at the Bharatratn­a Bodhistava Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Mahasabha in Lucknow on Saturday.

Rohit Vemullah was a PhD scholar at University of Hyderabad. He committed suicide in January 2016, sparking a nationwide outrage.

Mevani denied that his frequent forays in the state had any political agenda. But he demanded at least five acres land each for the landless people belonging to the Dalit and Muslim communitie­s.

“I don’t have any political agenda. I am here in UP to garner their (Dalits and Muslim) support for the fight to expose the Gujarat model that has proved disastrous for Gujarat Dalits. I will be visiting UP again and would also be paying visits to other states to make this battle a mass movement,” said Mevani.

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