Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani arrested in Assam, his latest tweets witheld

The MLA from Vadgam was arrested from Palanpur Circuit House around 11:30 pm last night and the cause behind the arrest is yet not clear.

(Photo credit: ANI Twitter)

New Delhi: Congress MLA from Gujarat and famous Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani was arrested by Assam Police on Wednesday. The details of his arrest are not known yet, ANI reported.

The MLA from Vadgam was arrested from Palanpur Circuit House around 11:30 pm last night, as per Mevani's team.  "Police yet to share FIR copy with us. Prima facie, we have been informed about some cases filed against him in Assam," they added

Gujarat | Congress Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani arrested by Assam Police from Palanpur Circuit House around 11:30 pm last night, as per Mevani's team. "Police yet to share FIR copy with us. Prima facie, we have been informed about some cases filed against him in Assam," they added pic.twitter.com/lYkKzCwOpu — ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2022

Visuals released by news agency ANI shows Mevani being taken to police custody late at night.

While what led to Mevani, a staunch critic of the government and convenor of the political party Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, is yet to be ascertained his Twitter accounts show that some of his recent tweets were withheld by the authorities in response to legal intricacies.

According to Mevani's aides, a copy of the FIR or police case has not been provided to his team yet

The Assam Police, which arrested Mr Mevani, plan to take him from Ahmedabad to Guwahati today, as per media reports.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday termed the arrest of its MLA Jignesh Mevani as "undemocratic" and "unconstitutional" and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot imprison the truth by trying to "crush" dissent.

Modi ji, you can try to crush dissent by abusing the state machinery.

But you can never imprison the truth.#DaroMat #SatyamevaJayate pic.twitter.com/Qw4wVhLclH — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 21, 2022

"Modi Ji, you can try to crush dissent by abusing the state machinery. But you can never imprison the truth," Gandhi said on Twitter, using hashtags "#DaroMat" and "#SatyamevaJayate".

He tagged a report saying that Assam Police has taken Mevani into custody over his tweets on Prime Minister Modi.

Congress leader KC Venugopal also dubbed Mevani's arrest as unlawful and unconstitutional and alleged authoritarianism by the BJP.

"The unlawful and unconstitutional arrest of Jignesh Mevani at midnight by Assam Police is the latest proof of authoritarianism under BJP. Such an arrest of a people's representative not only betrays their fear of criticism but also attacks the foundations of our democracy," he said in a tweet.